Congratulations to Irish-Zambian artist Denise Chaila, who is among the eight winners announced tonight in the Music Moves Europe Talent Awards 2022, alongside Mezerg (France), Deva (Hungary), Blanks (Holland) and Alina Pash (Ukraine).

The Music Moves Europe Awards are the European Union Prize for popular and contemporary music for artists who "represent the sound of today and tomorrow". The Grand Jury Prize was nabbed by Meskerem Mees from Belgium, while the Public Choice Award was secured by Armenian duo Ladaniva.

Limerick-based rapper, singer and poet Chaila - who is also among the Irish acts playing the Eurosonic Festival toight - released her RTÉ Choice Music Prize-winning debut album Go Bravely in 2020 and scored a breakthrough hit with the single 'CHAILA'. Her new release, It's A Mixtape, is out now via narolane records, with her friends and collaborators God Knows and MuRli contributing hugely.

Winners of the Music Moves Europe Awards were selected by an expert jury consisting of Gemma Bradley (BBC Radio 1), Cindy Castillo (Mad Cool Festival), Kevin Cole (KEXP), Bryan Johnson (Spotify), and honorary jury member Alyona Alyona (Public Choice Winner 2021).

Speaking about Denise Chaila, the jury said: “Smart lyrics, a real passion and strength when performing. One of the most exciting artists on this year."

Five Music Moves Europe Award winners receive €10,000 each, while the winner of the Grand Jury Award will receive €10,000 and a green touring voucher worth €5,000.

All fifteen nominees are invited for a business education day, with best practices in the music industry, organised by ESNS and its partners, the live sector (Liveurope, Yourope and Live DMA), the recording industry (IMPALA and Digital Music Europe), the International Music Managers Forum (IMMF) The European Music Exporters Exchange (EMEE).

Along with Chaila, the other artists nominated for the Music Moves Europe Awards 2022 were: Alina Pash (Ukraine), Anna (Italy), Balkan Taksim (Romania), Blanks (The Netherlands), Дeva (Hungary), DORA (Spain), Francis of Delirium (Luxembourg), Friedberg (Austria), Jada (Denmark), Ladaniva (Armenia), Meskerem Mees (Belgium), Mezerg (France), Nenny (Portugal), and Zoe Wees (Germany).

Last year's Public Choice Award Winner was Ukrainian hip hop artist Alyona Alyona, who is now a member of the jury of the Music Moves Europe Awards for 2022.

Music Moves Europe, the overarching framework for the European Commission’s initiatives and actions in support of the European music sector. aims to help the music sector flourish. In line with this approach, the Music Moves Europe Talent Awards, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme, the EU funding programme for the culture and audiovisual sector, wants to contribute to the creativity, diversity and competitiveness of the music sector in Europe.