Becca Hatch, RVG's Romy Vager Win 2025 APRA Professional Development Awards

The winners have been revealed three weeks after APRA announced the finalists in contention for this year’s Professional Development Awards.

Songwriters and composers have won this year’s APRA Professional Development Awards, announced today (13 February) at a packed-out event in Sydney.

Artists including hip-hop star BARKAA, R&B singer Becca Hatch, country darling Denvah, electronic music producer Skeleten, and RVG ringleader Romy Vager are among the 13 winners taking home $10,000 cash to boost their music careers. You can find the complete list of winners below.

This year’s winners were chosen by an experienced panel of judges from the Australian music industry. The panel included journalists and presenters Dave Ruby Howe and Sosefina Fuamoli, as well as beloved local artists and producers such as country artists Brooke McClymont and Casey Barnes, The Presets’ Julian Hamilton, and singer-songwriter Liz Stringer.

Three of the 13 awards presented to today’s winners went to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office (NATSIMO) presented the awards to Kee’ahn, Becca Hatch, and Marlene Cummins.

Previous Professional Development Award winners include Angie McMahon, Baker Boy, Elsy Wameyo, Jem Cassar-Daley, Miss Kaninna, Melanie Dyer, Ngaiire, Yirrmal, and others.

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APRA AMCOS CEO Dean Ormston said of this year’s winners, “Investing in career development opportunities for our members is a big part of what we do, and our PDAs have a demonstrated track record in enabling career-defining opportunities.”

Ormston continued, “It’s wonderful to see such a diverse range of talented songwriters and composers across multiple genres being recognised, and it’s a testament to their dedication, commitment, passion and putting in the hard yards to progress their careers in what is a very challenging and competitive industry.

“I have no doubt that this will be an important step to bigger and better things for this year’s winners and driving Australia’s reputation as a global music powerhouse.”