The APRA AMCOS Professional Development Award is helping give emerging creatives a leg up in the music industry. We chat to four winners of the prize on what the opportunity means to them.
It’s no secret that breaking into the music biz is no easy feat. APRA AMCOS might just know this better than anybody else. Better yet, they know how to help. Enter: the Professional Development Award.
The APRA AMCOS Professional Development Award grants a sum to the tune of $10,000 cash to thirteen recipients to support their professional development. The game-changing figure aims to help emerging songwriters and composers kick-start their music careers with money to be spent on workshops, music education courses, composer seminars, co-writing sessions and other similar activities, both in Australia and around the world.
APRA AMCOS Professional Development Award
- $10,000 cash prize to support professional development
- 13 winners across genre and style
- More info here
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
Across the thirteen winners of the prize, you’ll find a mixed bag of genre, style and sound. We sat down to chat to four of them – Wild Gloriosa, Denvah, Solune and Cassie Hamilton – on their careers so far, what this award means to them, and what they’re ultimately going to do with it. Take note – these talented artists might just be the next big thing.
Wild Gloriosa
View this post on Instagram
Gloria Ragesh – AKA Wild Gloriosa – is a R&B and soul musician based in Naarm. Taking her stage name from Tamil Nadu’s state flower Gloriosa (also called flame lily), Gloriosa says it’s an “incredible honour” to be recognised with the Professional Development Award.
Gloria emphasises that the $10,000 cash award is invaluable for emerging artists. “Money is such an obstacle for musicians and can produce such a discouragement” she says. “I feel very grateful to have this to exercise the strength in my professional relationships and creating new ones.”
With the help of the award, the musician will be heading overseas with the aim of strengthening industry relationships and working on her upcoming album. While Gloria says that “finances can be such an overbearing burden to bear,” the prize will afford her to take her mind off the financial side of producing the album, allowing her to “put my energy more towards my creativity, my sound and message.”
The up-and-coming musician emphasises the need for development opportunities like this for emerging creatives in the music industry. “Being given resources has helped push my career further and further,” she says.
“The willingness to be receptive to the knowledge and education around the industry and applying [it] to the artistry is equally as important as the activities themselves. There is no such thing as too many professional development opportunities.”
Denvah
View this post on Instagram
With an EP, a collection of singles, multiple music festival performances and having placed in the top 3 of Australian Idol 2024, Rockhampton-bred country music and Americana singer-songwriter Denvah most definitely already has her foot in the door of the industry. Now, with the Professional Development Award up her sleeve, she’s ready to kick the door down.
Despite the country singer’s burgeoning success so far, Denvah says the announcement of the win came completely as a surprise to her. “I fully believed I was the underdog in my category, simply because of the standard of the finalists. I was both shocked and honoured to have been selected and [it] has given me a new drive to prove myself.”
Denvah points out that as a regional musician, the procurement of this award is nothing short of a “game-changer” for her professionally. “Living in a regional area, travelling, working with people in the industry and touring always has an extra cost to it,” she says. “I feel like this award gives opportunities that normally aren’t there.”
The award for Denvah means that this rising musician can expand the body of work she’s currently creating, allowing her to collaborate with an array of new producers and artists. It offers a momentum for Denvah to feed off, helping her get back into the studio and giving her the opportunity to “create something special.”
Like so many emerging musicians, Denvah loves the creative side of the work she does, but it comes at a (literal) cost. “I feel [that] with this award, I’ll feel more free to really dive deep creatively and produce products that I’ll be really proud of,” she says. “I think every person has something to share and these awards give the opportunity to share it.”
Solune
View this post on Instagram
You might better know jazz and improvise-music trailblazer Selene Messinis as her moniker, Solune. A multi-instrumentalist (piano, keyboards, synthesizers, vocals and saxophone, just to name a few), songwriter, composer and educator, Selene knows an opportunity when she sees one. As a winner of the APRA AMCOS Professional Development Award, those opportunities are now endless.
“I am so deeply grateful for this award and the wonderful possibilities that it opens, not only as an artist but as a woman in jazz and improvised music,” she says. “I feel I have always been fighting for acceptance and a rightfully deserving place within our music industry. This award brings me one step closer to abolishing imposter syndrome and owning my power.”
When it comes to her craft, Selene isn’t afraid of challenging the boundaries of genre expectations. “A lot of people have struggled to conceive of where my music fits in the ‘music scene’,” she says. “It means so much to have my music recognised and legitimised.”
The Professional Development Award is providing Selene the means to travel overseas and conduct research alongside mentors who “understand the cultural context of the ethnic music” she’s learning about, being Greek traditional music and other Eastern modes/scales.
“Not only do I make music and push out of my comfort zone for myself, but I do it for any other minority group who doesn’t yet have the courage to break stereotypes and play what is most authentic and joyful to them,” Selene says.
“As a female instrumentalist who makes jazz and metal (both of which women are critically underrepresented),” she continues, “there are so many obstacles to overcome in feeling seen, heard and empowered, so awards like this do wonders for self-confidence and the yearning to keep creating art.”
Cassie Hamilton
View this post on Instagram
For self-taught Eora-based actor, playwright and director Cassie Hamilton, winning the APRA AMCOS Professional Development Award for musical theatre is nothing short of a “massive recognition.”
“Personally, it is an affirmation that this work [that] I have given so much of my life [to] is worth it,” Cassie says. “Professionally, it feels amazing to know that the industry is paying attention and is excited by a work so out of the traditional musical theatre form.”
Cassie highlights the significance of opportunities like the Professional Development Award, particularly for gender-diverse and non-cis male music creators, drawing from her own experience as a transgender artist.
“Australia does not have a huge culture of developing musicals and this is one of the only avenues for emerging artists to get a foot in the door,” she says. “Musical theatre is so dominated by gay cis male stories and this award sheds a light on all the incredible works that are bubbling beneath the mainstream.”
“Musical theatre is [also] a historically trans-exclusionary genre, from vocal types to body types,” Cassie continues. “Part of [my] project is to show that there is a place for the incredible trans talent this country has on our stages. Trans people and trans stories are just as rich, complex and beautiful as every other kind of story. This award tells the industry that they are worth programming and investing in!”
When it comes to advice for emerging artists trying to break into the industry, Cassie speaks from a place of deep passion for the power of sharing stories. “I would tell emerging artists to write about what they care about and what excites them,” she says. “If you care about what you’re saying, then we will too!”
2025 winners:
This year’s winners are:
BARKAA – Hip Hop/Rap
Becca Hatch – NATSIMO Youth (under 25)
Cassie Hamilton – A Transgender Woman on the Internet, Crying – Music Theatre
Denvah – Country/Americana
Josten Myburgh – Classical & Experimental
Kee’ahn Bindol – NATSIMO General
KIAN – Popular Contemporary
Marlene Cummins – NATSIMO Senior (over 50)
Romy Vager – Popular Contemporary
Samuel Marks – Screen Composition
Skeleten – Dance/Electronic
Solune – Jazz & Improvised Music
Wild Gloriosa – R&B/Soul
For more information on how to enter for the APRA AMCOS Professional Development Award, head here.
