Leeds quartet, English Teacher, have quickly become a buzzed-about band thanks to their left-field, self-described "post-lame" sound and surreal lyricism.

Formed of Lily Fontaine (vocals, rhythm guitar, synth), Douglas Frost (drums), Nicholas Eden (bass) and Lewis Whiting (lead guitar, synth), the group are Youth Music project alumni from Come Play With Me. 

Since winning the Rising Star Award (Artist) in 2022, they signed by Island Records and released a debut album, 'This Could Be Texas', which was named one of TIME's 'Best Albums of 2024 So Far'. They won the 2024 Mercury Prize , played Glastonbury, and had their own headline UK tour. Plus, the band made the BBC Sound of 2025 list.

Sans Soucis won the Original Track Award (Solo Artist) at the Youth Music Awards 2021. A Youth Music project alumnus from the Abram Wilson Foundation, they have since gone on to sign a deal with Decca Records, rack up several million plays on their music, open for Rina Sawayama, and play a whole host of festivals, including Wilderness and SXSW. 

In 2023, Sans Soucis was nominated for an NME Award, named a Ticketmaster Breakthrough Act, and performed at The Great Escape Festival. 

This year, they released their debut album, 'Circumnavigating Georgia', and supported Empress Of on tour around Europe.

Rap collective, The Spit Game, put on a larger-than-life performance at the Youth Music Awards 2022, winning the Live Performance Award. Grime legend Lethal Bizzle made a surprise appearance to present the award to the group, later stating that The Spit Game's electric energy reminded him of his early rave days with Kano, Wiley and Dizzee Rascal.

Bursting with talent, The Spit Game's members have been keeping busy since their win. In 2022, they performed at the Royal Albert Hall, and in 2023, members SL and BOODZ's short film 'Black Boy' was selected for a BAFTA qualifying film festival. The Spit Game also landed a residency with the Science Gallery, combining research, Black culture, creativity and film.

The Spit Game went on to win the Outstanding Project Award at the Youth Music Awards 2024, and member Toni Olabanji won the Young Leader Award.

Youth Music Awards 2022 Social Action Award winner Pembe Tokluhan founded Petok Productions, which provides a database of women, Trans and Non-Binary professionals in all backstage roles.

Pembe added another trophy to her shelf, winning the Creative Industry Award at the 2022 Baton Awards.

In 2023, the multidisciplinary backstage creative worked with Nile Rodgers and CHIC on their European tour, taking part in more than 40 shows across 15+ countries.

Multi-hyphenate creative Eva Davies won the Entrepreneur Award at 2021's Youth Music Awards and has continued to reach for the stars ever since. 

The winning project that Eva founded, GRRLS DO THAT TOO, supported women and people of marginalised genders in music on stage and behind the scenes. Since her win, Eva became a label and artist manager at Youth Music funded partner, Come Play With Me, and was on the panel for Record Store Day's Unsigned Competition 2023.

Eva is now a Director at Yorkshire Sound Women Network and an Artist Manager & Consultant at Fortified.

Jessie won the Music Producer Award at the Youth Music Awards 2023. That same year, her new music was spun on BBC Radio 1 by Jaguar and Sian Eleri.

In 2024, Jessie played at the Roundhouse, released an EP on Anjunadeep's record label, was added to Apple Music's Electronic playlists and headed into the studio with Youth Music ambassadors, BICEP. 

And that's not all! This year, Jessie also played a live set at Glastonbury and travelled to Albania to perform at Explorations Festival. Closing out the year, she supported Sub Motion Orchestra and Parra For Cuva at their London shows.