Winner of the SAY Award announced tonight

And the winner is….

Nova who wins with her debut release ‘Re-Up’. At 24 years-old is the youngest ever winner in the nine years of the Scottish Album of the Year Award, and this is the first rap/grime album to win.

Nova (Shaheeda Sinckler) accepted the award and the £20,000 prize that goes with it by video link as she isolates following a positive Covid-19 test. The news was revealed live on stage by her manager Son Staune (VAJ Power) and you can watch Nova’s reaction in the ceremony programme which is being shown on YouTube later this evening.

Based in Edinburgh, rapper, producer and DJ Nova celebrates Glasgow’s DIY underground music scene and all it entails in ‘Re-Up’; utilising compelling and introspective storytelling to take her listeners on a journey through afterparties, the struggles of young people (particularly around money) and Nova’s unfiltered truth.

Winning the prestigious award in a year like no other, Nova said, “It is such an incredible feeling to have won the 2020 Scottish Album of the Year Award, just a couple of weeks shy of my 25th birthday! It is so affirming – any doubts that I might have had previously are now out of the window and I’m seriously so excited for the future. I’m excited to keep on this upwards trajectory, thrilled to encounter new experiences and take my professionalism to the next level. To think that my manager and I had no idea where we would end up when we started working together and now to have made it here is just fantastic!

It hasn’t always been easy – there have been a lot of late nights, night buses and moments of uncertainty, to name a few challenges, but winning this award has solidified my belief that hard work and determination bring results. So don’t call me lucky because I worked my butt off to move forward – and you can too.

There is so much possibility in the air and I feel so free, nurturing old bonds and making new ones is what I can see on the horizon. I’ve already begun working on my next project and I cannot wait to see how THAT is received. I’m sending much love and blessings to everyone who made this possible.”

Chairing the Judging Panel this year, John Williamson said, “Choosing one album over others to award a prize is, at the best of times, something of a fool’s errand.

This year the judges had a not inconsiderable task – trying to compare the lavishly-produced and orchestrated against more homespun, DIY creations spanning a range of styles, backgrounds and outlooks.

Nova’s ‘Re-Up’ is, regardless, a worthy winner: brilliant, idiosyncratic and poetic: its brevity even challenges what we consider an album in the first place.”

Listen to the Scottish Album of the Year, ‘Re-Up’here and check out BBC iPlayer from 11pm tonight for a special package focusing on The SAY Award 2020 Ceremony with an exclusive first interview with Nova here.