Free money for musos: APRA AMCOS just opened applications for its 2027 Professional Development Awards.
Songwriters and composers looking for a leg up should take note: APRA AMCOS has opened applications for the 2027 APRA Professional Development Awards, offering serious career funding.
Thirteen individual recipients will each pocket $10,000 to put towards professional development, whether that’s workshops, music education courses, composer seminars, co-writing sessions or other career-boosting activities, either locally or overseas.
The 2027 APRA Professional Development Awards are open now to eligible songwriter and composer members of APRA AMCOS who find themselves at a pivotal stage in their careers.
2027 APRA AMCOS Professional Development Awards
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander General (two awards)
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Senior (all genres, entrants must be over 50)
- Country/Americana
- Classical and experimental
- Dance/electronic
- Hip hop/rap
- Jazz and improvised music
- Music theatre/stage (workshop funding only)
- Popular contemporary (two awards) – covers pop, rock, alternative, blues, roots, folk, metal, Christian and children’s
- R&B/soul
- Screen composition (film, TV, games)
- Applications close 5pm (AEST), 23 September
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Three of the 13 awards go to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members, split across categories supporting music creators at different life and career stages, including a dedicated senior category for members over 50.
Previous recipients of the awards include Angie McMahon, Baker Boy, BARKAA, Elsy Wameyo, Gotye, Jem Cassar-Daley, Ngaiire, Rebecca Bracewell, Samuel Marks and Yirrmal – a fairly stacked list of alumni for anyone weighing up whether to apply.
2026 Popular Contemporary winner Ruby Gill used her award to co-produce her new record in London while completing her first headline UK tour.
“I have a completely different sense of what my career could look like, where it could take me and what my real strengths and new skills are since going on this journey,” she says.
She adds that the lack of strings attached to the funding made a real difference:
“It’s incredible that APRA gave me no strict outcomes or pressure about doing things ‘a certain way’ too.
“If you’re thinking of applying for this, you absolutely should. Go rogue. Within reason obv.”
2026 R&B/Soul winner Ella Thompson put her award towards an artist residency in Paris.
“The APRA PDA award has given me the opportunity to build my skills as writer and artist through taking lessons, researching and developing my next body of work through an artist in residency in Paris,” she says.
“This opportunity will help my career in innumerable ways and I am very grateful and excited for the year ahead.”
Past winners have described the funding as arriving at exactly the right moment, helping cover gaps that might otherwise have stalled momentum on international opportunities, co-writes and debut releases. Recipients from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander categories have also pointed to the awards supporting language preservation work alongside more contemporary songwriting collaborations.
APRA AMCOS says the Professional Development Awards exist to help members sharpen their craft, widen their networks and push their careers forward, forming part of the organisation’s broader push to back Australian songwriters and composers at every stage of their journey.
Membership to APRA AMCOS is free for songwriters, composers and publishers, so anyone eligible and sitting on the fence has little reason not to throw their hat in before the September deadline.
For more information, head here.
This article was made in partnership with APRA AMCOS.
