The UK's Featured Artists Coalition and Music Managers Forum have announced the shortlists for the breakthrough prizes at this year's Artist & Manager Awards, which take place in London on 23 Nov.
There are breakthrough awards for both artists and managers. Up for the former this year are Amaarae, Bakar, Olivia Dean, Peggy Gou, Kenya Grace, Nia Archives, Obongjayar, Maisie Peters, The Reytons and Shygirl.
Meanwhile, on the shortlist for the breakthrough manager of 2023 are Akheim Allen from Peral Music; Raphael Adekunle from Rax Productions; Whitney Asomani from Twenty:Two Agency; Pascal Balletti; Emily Braham from Yo&Co; Dave Bryan from DMB Management; Nikita Chauhan from TranslateNC; Paul Keen and Sarah Keen from S1bling; Louise Latimer from East City Management; and Lyle Scougall and Nathan Dunphy from Mañana Music Management.
The winner has also been announced for this year's Team Achievement Award, which will go to Forever Living Originals, the independent music company that works with Sault, Cleo Sol, Little Simz, Chronixx and Inflo.
Commenting on the latest announcements, FAC CEO David Martin and MMF CEO Annabella Coldrick say in a joint statement: "We are really excited by these latest announcements. Forever Living Originals are responsible for some of the most artistically important music of recent years and are fully deserving of this recognition for Team Achievement. Collectively, they have raised the bar in terms of innovation and inspiration, and we are honoured they will be joining us on the evening to pick up their award".
"After long and careful deliberation", they go on, "we are also delighted to reveal the shortlists for Breakthrough Artist and Breakthrough Manager. These are incredibly tough lists to draw up and we look forward to presenting the winners on 23 Nov in what's shaping up to be one of our strongest ceremonies yet".
