European Border Breakers Awards celebrate new border crossing talent

5 December 2016

On 11 January 2017, the Dutch city of Groningen hosts the 14th European Border Breakers Awards, the European music show dedicated to up-and-coming bands and acts. The Awards this year go to Alan Walker (no), Jaakko Eino Kalevi (fi), Namika (de), Hinds (es), Filous (at), Jain (fr), Dua Lipa (gb), Era Istrefi (al), Natalie La Rose (nl) and Walking on Cars (ie). The awards recognise new acts based on success outside their own country. The Awards are a chance to discover and celebrate the best of contemporary European music.

All the winners will feature in the award show, presented by hosted by celebrated musician and presenter Jools Holland. The show will be recorded for TV and is available to all European public broadcasting stations.

Public Choice Award – EBBA 2017

From 5 December, fans and EBU audiences are invited to vote for their favourite artist among the winners on the EBBA website. The winner of Public Choice Award will be revealed live in Groningen.

Win a trip to the EBBA

Anyone who votes is in with a chance of winning an expenses-paid trip to Groningen for two to attend the award show. Winners will be picked by the radio stations of the European Broadcasting Union. Each winning voter will also be invited to attend a workshop hosted by the European Broadcasting Union on social media.

The EBBA

EBBA celebrate new and border-breaking artists who create today and tomorrow’s music. From Adele (United Kingdom) to Christine & the Queens (France), the EBBA winners represent some of the standout European sounds of recent years. Other previous winners include Stromae, Gabriel Rios, Hozier, Of Monsters and Men, Mumford & Sons, Aurora, Disclosure, John Newman, C2C, Tokio Hotel, The Script, Years and Years, Robin Schulz, Carnival Youth, MØ and Selah Sue.

From the group of enthusiastic gig-goers out on the weekend to the industry dedicated to making the music you love, Music Moves Europe. EBBA are one of the EU’s ways of celebrating European popular and contemporary music by bringing the artists, the industry and the fans together to celebrate European music.
Every year, 10 European artists receive an EBBA to recognise their success in countries other than their own.

This success is measured by:

The European Border Breakers Charts, launched earlier this year and compiled by Radiomonitor, rank tracks from around Europe based on airplay abroad.
To be eligible for the 2017 awards, the artists must have achieved border-breaking success with their first international release in Europe between 1 August 2015 and 31 July 2016 and come from a country participating in the EU’s Creative Europe programme.
The EBBA, now in their 14th year, are an EU Prize, organised by Eurosonic Noorderslag in partnership with the European Commission (Creative Europe) and the European Broadcasting Union, with support from Buma Cultuur, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Province of Groningen, the City of Groningen and Music Week.

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