The Music Moves Europe Award, also known as the MME Award, is an annual prize recognizing the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year. The prize was known as the European Border Breakers Award (EBBA) until 2019, and the Music Moves Europe Talent Award (MMETA) until 2022.

Organization

The EBBA Awards were launched by the European Commission and are a European Union award. Since 2009, the awards are organised by Eurosonic Noorderslag and the award is presented at the Eurosonic Noorderslag festival.

Partners

Selection of the winners

The artists or groups nominated for the European Border Breakers Awards are selected on the basis of the following criteria:

Public Choice Award

Since 2010, an online vote takes place to choose which EBBA Award winner will receive the Public Choice Award, on top of the "regular" award. The first winner was Belgian singer-songwriter Milow. The German rock & roll band The Baseballs won in 2011. Selah Sue from Belgium won the prize in 2012.

The show

Since 2009 the award ceremony takes place every year in January, during the Eurosonic Noorderslag festival, in the Dutch city of Groningen, presented by BBC host and musician Jools Holland. EBBA Award winners perform live during the show, as well as during the festival itself. Winners from previous years are invited to perform as special guests. The ceremony is recorded by the public broadcaster NOS/NTR and broadcast through NPO 3. The show is annually broadcast on several European television channels.

Background

The EBBA Awards were initiated by the European Commission in 2004. With the awards, the European Commission aims to stimulate the cross-border circulation of popular music repertoire and to highlight Europe's great musical diversity. The European Border Breakers Awards are supported through the Culture Programme of the European Union, which seeks to promote cross-border mobility of artists and culture professionals; to encourage the transnational circulation of cultural and artistic output; and to foster intercultural dialogue.

List of winners

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Public Choice Award: Milow

2011

Public Choice Award: The Baseballs

2012

Public Choice Award: Selah Sue

2013

2014

2015

Winner Public Choice Award: The Common Linnets Best festival act award (awarded for the first time at this edition): Jungle

2016

Public Choice Award: Carnival Youth

2017

Public Choice Award: Dua Lipa

2018

Public Choice Award: Kristian Kostov

2019

2020

Public Choice Award: Naaz (Netherlands)

2021

Public Choice Award: Alyona Alyona (Ukraine)

2022

The list of 2022 winners:

2023

The list of 2023 winners:

2024

The list of 2024 winners: