Meet the Northern Ireland Music Prize winners supported by Help Musicians
Supporting Northern Ireland’s music talent with up to £3,000 and expert business advice
The Northern Ireland Music Prize 2022
The NI Music Prize, run by the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast, celebrates the extraordinary wealth of musical talent Northern Ireland has to offer.
2022’s awards were announced on 16 November with Robocobra Quartet’s Living Isn’t Easy taking home Best Album and ferna winning Best Single by public vote for Wasting. Live Act of the Year and Video of the Year went to Junk Drawer and The Florentinas picked up the The BBC Introducing: ATL Artist of The Year award.
We’re delighted to be helping the four winning acts with support that will include a financial grant of up to £3,000 and one-to-one business advice sessions with experts from across the music industry who can help with anything from planning a marketing strategy, to understanding IP or royalty collection, giving them skills they can use in future.
We’re over the moon to continue our work in Northern Ireland and to be able to offer this support to the 2022 NI Music Prize winners.
Meet the Northern Ireland Music Prize winners
Northern Ireland is brimming with musical talent — discover the winners of the 2022 NI Music Prize below.
Improvisation and experimentation is at the core of Robocobra Quartet’s DNA. The free nature of the band’s live shows have led to them being embraced by jazz enthusiasts just as much as rock fans.
From the north coast of Ireland, ferna (pronounced fear-na) aims to tell the stories that otherwise get lost in the noise, delivering a sound that merges the organic and the electronic, filled with mixed emotions, fragile beauty and powerful hooks.
Belfast’s Junk Drawer create an intuitively loose and idiosyncratic brand of indie rock, incorporating Krautrock, post-punk, and psychedelia.
Formed in early 2019, Paddy, Jacob, Luke and Jakob are The Florentinas, a four piece alternative rock band from Bangor, Co. Down who have steadily been making waves in the Northern Irish scene and beyond.
This is such welcome news for the winning artists for 2022. A real boost in difficult times for musicians. Thanks to Help Musicians for this generous offer of not only additional financial support but also around more practical skills for a career in music.
Supporting musicians to sustain their careers
Help Musicians is a charity that loves music and for over 100 years has been working hard to make a meaningful difference to the lives of musicians across the UK.
We offer a broad range of help to support music creators in times of crisis and opportunity — ensuring musicians across the UK can achieve their creative potential and sustain a career in music.