Presented by PRS Foundation and The Radiophonic Institute, The Oram Awards recognise women and gender diverse artists who are innovators in the fields of music, sound and related technologies in honour of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop’s Daphne Oram, and other pioneering women and gender diverse music creators in music and sound.

Named after Daphne Oram, one of the founding members of the original BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the awards hope to build on her legacy. Daphne worked at the workshop with others including Delia Derbyshire, Glynis Jones, Jenyth Worsley, Maddalena Fagandini and Elizabeth Parker, creating music for the distant future, the distant past and inside the mind. She played a vital role in establishing women at the forefront of innovation, in newly emerging audio technologies, in the UK and around the world. Fast forward to today and whilst there are many women and gender diverse music creators innovating in music and sound, their work and their voices often struggle to be heard and we’re missing the opportunity to celebrate role models for the next generation.

In 2024 there will be 5 winners in the UK category, and the ceremony will take place in Autumn 2024.

• Winners receive development bursaries of £1,000 from PRS Foundation
• Winners will be presented with a physical award and will have access to The Oram Awards Mentoring Program

Warning: video contains flashing images from the start

The Oram Awards are targeted at the next generation of innovative women and gender diverse artists in music and sound.

There is only one category: innovation in sound, music and associated technologies.

Applicants will need to meet the following criteria:

• Age 18+
• Are Women or Gender Diverse (Trans, Non-Binary, Agender, Gender Fluid, Genderqueer, Gender Non-Conforming)
• are based in the United Kingdom;
• create high quality original new music and sound;
• innovate in sound, music and associated technologies;
• through their work have demonstrated that they are deserving of increased recognition;
• are ready for this opportunity and will use the PRS Foundation bursary and Oram Awards mentorship program for future creative and professional development.

The Oram Awards are targeted at the next generation of innovative women and gender diverse music creators who are innovators in music, sound and related technologies, rather than established names.

Partners will prioritise women and gender diverse music creators who are not yet established names, as well as those not already being supported by Next Steps PRS Foundation programmes such as the PPL Momentum Music Fund, The Hitmaker Fund, The Composers’ Fund and New Music Biennial.

Applications are welcomed from those based anywhere in the UK, and we are particularly interested in seeing applications from those based in underrepresented regions of the UK.

Successful applicants are awarded a bursary £1000 and should outline how the bursary would be spent to develop innovative practices in sound, music and associated technologies in the application.

The 2023 winners were Afromerm, Geo Aghinea, Hannan Jones, Helen Anahita Wilson, Natalie Roe and No Home. In the International Category – In partnership with the British Council winners were VIKTORIA/ rEmPiT g0dDe$$ (Malaysia) and Maya Al Khaldi مايا الخالدي (Palestine).

The 2022 winners were Ella Kay, Amble Skuse, Kelly Jayne Jones, Lia Mazzari, Lula.xyz and Amy Cutler with the ceremony taking place as part of Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (HCMF).

The 2021 winners were Magz Hall, Vivienne Griffin, Lia Mice, Lou Barnell, Maria Sappho, Venus Ex Machina. The online awards & panel event took place in partnership with Brimingham based experimental music festival Supersonic.

The recipients of the award in 2020 were Loula Yorke, Nicole Raymond (NikNak), Poulomi Desai, Una Lee, Vicky Clarke & Yifeat Ziv. Due to Covid the live ceremony was replaced with an evening of exclusive sets on SonitusLIVE/Twitch digital platform.

The 2019 winners were Nwando Ebizie, Ain Bailey, CHAINES, Natalie Sharp, Steph Horak and Andie Brown with a presentation ceremony at Kings Place, London as part of Venus Unwrapped Festival.

2018 recognised Georgia Rodgers, Loraine James, Francine Perry, Hannah Jones and Aja Ireland with the presentation ceremony taking place at BlueDot Festival at Jodrell Bank Telescope, Cheshire.

2017 saw Ewa Justka, Klein, Claire M Singer, Elvin Brandhi, Kathy Hinde, Mary Stark, Sally Golding and Shelly Knots picking up awards at the inaugural event at Turner Contemporary, Margate. Klein has gone on to critical acclaim in the likes of Pitchfork, The Fader and The Wire, Ewa’s talent creating innovative electronic instruments has been featured in Resident Advisor and Electronic Beats amongst others.

More info on the winners can be found at: www.oramawards.com 

Twitter: @oram_awards | Instagram: @theoramawards Facebook: Oram Awards

Bursaries should be used to aid the development of your innovative practice in sound, music and associated technologies.

Commercial artist projects and those not working in innovation within sound, music and associated technologies. Please see other PRS Foundation funding support for music creators.

Applications for The Oram Awards open annually. For the latest opening dates and deadlines, please see our deadlines page and The Oram Awards website. Applications must be submitted by 6pm on the day of the deadline.

We aim to communicate decisions within eight weeks of the deadline passing, ahead of the official announcement of the Awards. Decision Date TBC.

I have been nominated for The Oram Awards. Do I have to apply?

Although applications are open call, we also invite nominations from those recognised by the wider Oram Awards network. If you have been nominated, please see this as an invitation to apply. We will still need you to complete the application form in full in order to be considered.

Do applicants have to be based in the UK to apply?

PRS Foundation supports the UK category of The Oram Awards. There is an opportunity for those based outside of the UK to be supported via a nomination process in partnership with British Council – please see The Oram Awards website for more information.

What are the benefits of written vs video applications?

Applicants can choose to submit via a written or video application. Both written and video submissions have their pros and cons, video applications can enable applicants who are less confident in writing applications to answer the questions in the application form and vice versa. We will work with our Grants Team and advisors to mitigate unconscious bias through video submissions; however, we would recommend those who are worried about this specifically to submit a written application. Please speak to a member of the Grants Team should you wish to discuss this further.

If you have read all the guidance and checked the deadlines page apply at the link below:

Apply Here

Support for applicants with access requirements

Access support with application process / application forms 

We understand that deadlines and form-filling can present challenges for some D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent applicants as well as applicants with long term health conditions, and we are committed to reducing these barriers.

We recognise that for applicants with access requirements, some additional support may be required to complete our applications.

We can offer practical support with the application process, additional support and advice such as word document versions of the application form in advance of submitting your application and deadline extensions. Some of our Grants have easy-read versions of guidance available. We recognise not all our funds offer the same access support, but our long-term goal is to ensure we can provide this across all our funds. We unfortunately do not offer funding for support with your application for example for hiring a PA.

For applicants with access requirements – please refer the table below to see what support is available for this fund; 

Access support for proposed activity / Successfully funded projects

We recognise that for applicants with access requirements some proposed activity will incur additional costs.

Some of our Grants offer additional limited ringfenced access top-up support where relevant.

This monetary support is outside of your Grant request amount. Additional information will be requested within the application form. Decisions on suitable contributions will be made based on available ringfenced access top-up budget. We may not be able to contribute 100% of the request.

We recognise not all our funds offer the same access support, but our long-term goal is to ensure we can provide this across all our funds.

For applicants with access requirements – please refer the table below to see what support is available for this fund;