2021 Queensland Music Awards Winners

Queensland's musical stocks are brimming with a host of young, talented and quickly emerging names alongside a stack of industry-recognised bands-artists – and tonight (5 May) the best and brightest talent of the past 12 months were celebrated at a glittering Queensland Music Awards ceremony.

Staged at the majestic The Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane, the evening was hosted by Aimon Clark (trivia host and guitarist for The Creases) and The Grates' frontwoman Patience Hodgson, and featured 30 award categories.

Winners included household names Ball Park Music, Amy Shark (Highest Selling Single), Sheppard (Export Achievement), and Keith Urban (Highest Selling Album) alongside a stack of young talent including Sycco, Hope D (Rock), Young Franco (Electronic / Dance), Jesswar (Hip Hop / Rap), Miiesha (who won 3 awards for the same song 'Twisting Words'), Amber Farnan (Schools - Grade 6-12) and Cloe Terare (Regional).

Other notable winners on the night included Karl S. Williams (Blues / Roots), These Four Walls (Heavy), Danny Widdicombe (Jazz), Jaguar Jonze (Folk / Singer-Songwriter - second straight year she has won this award) and MZAZA (World).

Ball Park Music scored the Album Of The Year gong for their self-titled release (you know, the one that featured 'Cherub'), while Brisbane's pop artist Sycco scored Single Of The Year for 'Dribble' (which has been streamed 3.8 million times on Spotify) alongside the Pop award. Both acts celebrated their wins with memorable live performances to the 700-plus strong crowd.



Gold Coast soul-folk-pop newcomer, Beckah Amani walked away with the coveted 2021 Billy Thorpe Scholarship and a $10k prize to record her next release (as well as the Emerging Artist award).

It was a historic night as well, with Jesswar the first female ever to take home the Hip Hop / Rap crown for her war-cry track 'Venom'.

Ball Park Music - image © Simone Gorman-Clark

"This year's QMAs was a true celebration of what has become an incredible local music industry, one that our state can be proud of, both culturally and as a key export industry,” QMusic CEO Angela Samut says.

"With a massive 30 categories, our winners represent the true breadth of talent around our state and no doubt include superstars to follow in the footsteps of our Queensland greats that have gone on to change the music landscape globally."



The night also saw the Queensland Music Awards recognise a lifetime's contribution to Queensland music when Lynette Irwin was awarded the Grant Mclennan Lifetime Achievement Award for her prolific and ongoing support of the jazz community over the past 20-plus years, including artistic director at Brisbane International Jazz Festival and president at Jazz Queensland.

2021 Queensland Music Awards Finalists.

2021 Queensland Music Awards Winners

Album Of The Year
Ball Park Music - 'Ball Park Music'

Song Of The Year
Sycco - 'Dribble'

Billy Thorpe Scholarship
Beckah Amani

Highest Selling Single
Amy Shark - 'Everybody Rise'

Highest Selling Album
Keith Urban - 'The Speed Of Now Part 1'

Emerging Artist Of The Year
Beckah Amani

Export Achievement
Sheppard


Innovation Award
Troubadour Wagons

Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award
Lynette Irwin

Blues / Roots
Karl S. Williams - 'God Is A Bomb'

Childrens
Nyssa Ray - 'Love Everybody'

Contemporary Classical
Ray Lin - 'Moonlight Illusion'

Country
Melody Moko - 'Like Hank Would'

Electronic / Dance
Young Franco - 'Juice feat. Pell'

Heavy
These Four Walls - 'White Lies'

Hip Hop / Rap
Jesswar - 'Venom'

Indigenous
Miiesha - 'Twisting Words'

Jazz
Danny Widdicombe with Kristin Berardi & Trichotomy - 'Falling'

Pop
Sycco - 'Dribble'

Rock
Hope D - 'Second'

Schools (Grade 6-12)
Amber Farnan - 'Over & Out'

Folk / Singer-Songwriter
Jaguar Jonze - 'Murder'

Soul / Funk / R&B
Miiesha - 'Twisting Words'

World
MZAZA - 'The Ether'

Regional
Cloe Terare - 'Intentions feat. JDG'

Remote
Miiesha - 'Twisting Words'

Video
Dylan Dulcos, Rico Zhang - Lastlings, 'Out Of Touch'

People's Choice Awards

Metro Venue Of The Year
The Tivoli

Regional Venue Of The Year
The NightQuarter

Festival Of The Year
Woodford Folk Festival