Yamê | Winner of the MME Awards Jury Prize!

Already an award winner at the Victoires de la musique and the Grands Prix de la Sacem, the Franco-Cameroonian rapper and singer Yamê has just won the prestigious Music Moves Europe (MME) Grand Jury Prize.

For their 2025 edition, the MME Awards have welcomed a new independent jury made up of Jess Iszatt (BBC Introducing), Filip Košťálek (Festival Colours of Ostrava), Kenza Naaimi – El Fezzazi (FIP) and Annika Walsh (Spotify). Each year, the winner of the previous year’s MME People’s Choice Award joins the jury. This year, it was France’s Zaho de Sagazan who took that seat following her victory in 2024.

After the awards ceremony, held on 16 January, the nominees performed on stage in Groningen (Netherlands) in front of music professionals and fans at the Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) 2025 festival. This annual festival and conference is visited by over 40,000 people from all over the world every year. In addition, the 15 nominees and their teams, as well as many young music professionals, were invited to take part in the MME education programme. This programme offers an insight into best practice in the music industry to enhance their knowledge and develop their careers. Topics covered this year included ‘101’ workshops on music rights and international touring, a panel on synchronisation, Inclusive RiderE and much more.

As a reminder, the Music Moves Europe Awards (MME Awards) are the European Union’s awards celebrating emerging artists who represent the European sound of today and tomorrow. The scheme is designed to accelerate the international careers of up-and-coming European artists. Over the past twenty years, a number of artists produced in France have won an MME Award, including Zaho de Sagazan in 2024, Christine and the Queens (now renamed Rahim Redcar) in 2015 and Stromae in 2011. The MME Awards are organised by ESNS and the Reeperbahn Festival, with the support of Liveurope, Yourope, Live DMA, IMPALA, Digital Music Europe (DME), ICMP, International Music Managers Forum (IMMF) and European Music Exporters Exchange (EMEE).