BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award

The BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award is an annual competition for young folk musicians in the United Kingdom. It was first awarded in 1988 as the Young Tradition Award, taking its present name in 1998. Recent winners of the award include Brighde Chaimbeul, Talisk and Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar.

Competition
The Young Tradition Award was a competition for young players of traditional music which was awarded annually between 1988 and 1996. BBC presenter Jim Lloyd wanted to get funding and publicity for young folk musicians in the same way that young classical musicians were helped by the BBC Young Musician award, and in 1988 he created the Young Tradition Award with a grant of £500 from the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust. The title was a tribute to the 1960s folk group The Young Tradition.

The following year the award was adopted by the BBC programme Folk On 2 which Lloyd presented. Over the next six years, competitors included Carlene Anglim, Damien Barber, Pauline Cato, MacLaine Colston, Luke Daniels, Ingrid Henderson and Catriona MacDonald. In 1994 Lloyd wrote that the Award had been expanded to include traditional singers as well as instrumentalists, restricted to professional or semi-professional artists, and associated with a bursary of £1,000. Lloyd retired from the BBC at the end of 1997, and a Young Tradition big band including all the previous winners performed on his final Folk On 2 programme.

The BBC recreated an award from 1998, calling it the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award. Until 2005, the competition was run by Folkworks on behalf of the BBC. The entry criteria in 2005 were that the event was "open to anyone aged between fifteen and twenty, performing as a band, duo or soloist and performing traditional and acoustic music with roots in any culture", and these criteria have remained largely unchanged in subsequent years. The short-listed finalists are invited to a residential weekend, as part of which they will perform in a public concert at which the winner is chosen by a judging panel.

Since 2011 the winner of the Young Folk Award has been announced at the main BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, which are broadcast on BBC Radio 2 with some highlights also televised. However the selection process for the Young Folk Award remains independent.

Young Folk Award finalists (1998–present)

 * 2019
 * Maddie Morris
 * The selection process changed again for the 2019 award. There were eight shortlisted acts, but only the winner was officially announced. Some of the finalists have identified themselves, including Jon Doran.


 * 2018

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Mera Royle

Jack Warnock

Josiah & Ludwig

The Drystones


 * 2017

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Josie Duncan & Pablo Lafuente

Amelia Coburn

Charlie Grey & Joseph Peach

Eryn Rae


 * 2016

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Brighde Chaimbeul

Causeway Trio

Jack Cookson

Benammi Swift


 * 2015

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Talisk

Cup O'Joe

Roseanne Reid

Wildwood Kin


 * 2014

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The Mischa Macpherson Trio

Hattie Briggs

Gentlemen of Few

Granny's Attic


 * 2013

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Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar

Luke Jackson

Graham Mackenzie & Ciorstaidh Beaton

Thalla


 * 2012

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Ioscaid

Sunjay Brayne

Blair Dunlop

Graham Mackenzie


 * 2011

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Moore Moss Rutter

Adam Holmes

David Gibb & Elly Lucas

Mairi & Steaphanaidh Chaimbeul
 * The number of finalists was reduced from six to four this year.


 * 2010

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James Findlay

The Carrivick Sisters

Chris Keatinge

Cinnte

Mairi and Steaphanaidh (Chaimbeul)

Niamh Boadle


 * 2009

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Joe and Megan Henwood

Jaywalkers

Emily Hoile and Alice Burn

Tyde

Maz O'Connor

Lucy Ward

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 * 2008

Jeana Leslie & Siobhan Miller

Dogan Mehmet

Ryan Young

One String Loose

Emily Hoile

Jack McNeil & Charlie Heys


 * 2007

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Last Orders

Ewen & Megan Henderson

David Delarre

Ryan Young

Ruth Notman & Bryony Bainbridge

Wilbur


 * 2006

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Bodega

Southwind

Joe O'Connor

Shona Donaldson

James Chadwick

Matheu Watson


 * 2004/5

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Lauren MacColl

Chillum

Kathryn Davidson

Kerfuffle

Bella Hardy

Carly Blain and Rachel Cross


 * 2003

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Jarlath Henderson

Tom Kitching

XYZ

Jackie Oates

Emma Sweeney

Arlen


 * 2002

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Uiscedwr

Trad Óg

Míse

KTB (Katy Barnett)

Sarah Hayes and Ian Stephenson

Shona Kipling


 * 2001

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GiveWay

Celtica

Siobhan Miller

Peter Tickell

Jim Moray

Sarah Hayes


 * 2000

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Black Cat Theory

Gjenya Cambray

Sarah Hayes

Ola

Phamie Gow

Frame, McKerrell, Napier


 * 1999
 * 422


 * 1998
 * Tim Van Eyken

Young Tradition Award finalists (1988–1996)
Information about the nominees in the earlier years is scarce.

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 * 1996

Jennifer Wrigley

Nancy Kerr

Luke Daniels

Damien Barber

Ingrid Henderson

Dezi Donnelly

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 * 1995

Michael McGoldrick

Oliver Bootle

Ben Dauncey

Corrina Hewat


 * 1994
 * Kathryn Roberts


 * 1993
 * Carlene Anglim


 * 1992
 * Luke Daniels


 * 1991
 * Catriona MacDonald
 * Finalists this years included Saul Rose.


 * 1990
 * Ingrid Henderson


 * 1989
 * Simon Thoumire
 * Thoumire notes that the finalists included Becky Taylor, and Coxon's article quotes her. Damien Barber was also a finalist.


 * 1988
 * Lynn Tocker
 * Thoumire relates that he met duo partner Ian Carr among the finalists of the first competition, and Coxson's article quotes Andy Cutting on his participation.