Tune Into Nature Music Prize reveals winner

03 March 2025 - Press release

CELEBRATING NATURE AND SUPPORTING YOUNG CREATIVES   

WITH JUDGES INCLUDING ARTISTS COSMO SHELDRAKE, ANDREW FEARN (SLEAFORD MODS) AND BBC RADIO PRESENTERS  

WINNING TRACKS DELVE INTO THE SOUNDS OF A MOUNTAIN AND NIGHTINGALES 

  

A unique national music competition designed to celebrate nature and inspire hope has announced its winners for 2025.   

The Tune Into Nature Music Prize, founded by Professor Miles Richardson from the University of Derby, aims to highlight the need for a new, stronger relationship with nature while providing vital support for young creative talent. 

The competition welcomed entries from unsigned musicians and singer/songwriters aged 18-30 whose original work demonstrates a true collaboration with nature including sounds of the natural world. 

Two entrants of very different styles wowed the judges so much that they awarded the prize jointly. 

The first winning track, Dawn by Josephine Illingworth, 23, offered total engagement in the sound world of the mountain.  

Josephine said: "Dawn, Aurora is a piece made from sounds I collected over several weeks of sleeping alone in mountain huts across the Dolomites. Its lyrics are taken from entries left in the guestbooks of these huts by past visitors. It is a tapestry of the memories and experiences taking place across the mountains, and a call for us to see life and movement in things we may think are silent. I am so honoured to be chosen for the Tune Into Nature prize, and I hope that you can listen to the song, and that perhaps it touches you in some way." 

The second winning track, Nightingale by Wildforms, aka Dan Cippico, turned mesmeric bird song into a brilliant drum n bass track. 

Dan said: "I'm excited that the interplay of nature and music is being celebrated by a prize such as this, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity it's provided for my music – especially to be heard by such an established panel. My track is based upon a Nightingale that I recorded singing in the UK last Spring. It was my first time hearing the bird, and I was instantly inspired by its song, which to me, evoked the Jungle and Drum & Bass music genres that were a major influence on my musical upbringing." 

Nine other artists were shortlisted for the Prize, including a range of genres from Hip Hop, Rock and Pop to Jazz, Folk and Classical, showing the universal appeal and relevance of nature as a source of inspiration and connection. 

The BBC has supported the shortlisting and judging process with expertise from their music teams, presenters and BBC Introducing.  The final tracks were previewed across BBC Radio networks, including Radio 1, 6 Music and Radio 3, which has devoted a special edition of Unclassified to featuring the winners and shortlisted artists, with further airplay of track excerpts planned on Radio 2. 

The creative initiative responds to research that shows the decline of nature connection among teenagers as well asdata that shows the reference to nature in contemporary music has decreased consistently since the 1950s. 

Professor Miles Richardson, Professor of Human Factors and Nature Connectedness at the University, said: "Ourresearch has found that the relationship between young people and nature dips during teenage years and takes more than a decade to recover. 

"This is a concern, as we know a close relationship with nature helps our mental wellbeing and those who are more tuned into nature are more likely to care for it. Given the context of the problems our climate and wildlife are facing, a closer relationship with nature is more necessary than ever before. 

"We constantly hear about the climate and biodiversity crises, but fostering hope and forging a new bond with nature is part of the solution. The entrants of the Tune into Nature Music Prize exemplify this, offering music that not only celebrates but also inspires hope through our connection with the natural world." 

Alongside backing from the University of Derby'sNature Connectedness Research Group, the competition is backed by a collaboration of recognised environmental-loving organisations including Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Conservation Foundation, EarthPercent and Sounds Right. 
 
Cathy Runciman, Co-Executive Director of EarthPercent said: "We're excited to support this prize and these exciting young artists whose work tells such an important story about our connection to nature. EarthPercent seeks to include the Earth as a stakeholder across music, and through our collaboration with the Sounds Right initiative from the Museum for the UN - UN Live, we invite artists into collaborations with nature to raise funds to protect the world's most precious and precarious ecosystems." 

The two prize winners will both receive £500 as well as opportunities provided by the judging panel, including a professional remix should they wish, with access to one of the world's finest archives of nature field recordings from The Listening Planet and the potential to opt in to have their original track or remix featured on NATURE's profile on major streaming platforms. 

On Earth Day 2024, NATURE was launched as an artist on streaming platforms through the Sounds Right initiative, with major artists the likes of Brian Eno and Ellie Goulding releasing new tracks featuring the sounds of the natural world. If the prize winners opt in, they can benefit from significant promotion and marketing as well as raising funds for nature restoration and protection by being featured on Sounds Right's 'Feat. NATURE' playlist. 

Judges for the prize include the musicians and artists Cosmo Sheldrake, Madame Gandhi, Andrew Fearn (Sleaford Mods), Jason Singh, Jinny Lyon, Melissa Harrison, Sam Lee, and BBC presenters Sian Eleri and Elizabeth Alker. 

Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Cosmo Sheldrake said: "I loved listening to all of these pieces of music. There was an amazing smorgasbord of different styles and approaches. It was just really interesting to listen to a cross section of music unified by its interest and passion for the natural world. There was some very creative use of natural sounds and field recordings as well as some brilliant song writing and lyrics exploring ecological issues and our relationship with the more-than-human world." 

Madame Gandhi, said, "I am thrilled to see both Dawn and Nightingale take home the prize this year as both artists took thoughtful and different approaches to the brief. I was looking for the feeling of interconnectedness between humans and our natural environment, and both tracks are richly emotive, deeply creative and immersive. In Nightingale, Dan was able to seamlessly sample the often robotic nature of a nightingale's song as the core motif in his drum n bass style piece. In Dawn, Josephine was able to drop us back into our human centered heart space, encouraging us to listen to nature more and recognize oneness with our environment." 

Jason Singh, sound artist and nature beatboxer, said: "I really loved these tracks. I loved the depths of the lyrics along with the deep sensitivity and strong message. There is a great feeling of hope in the music, and it was wonderful to hear tracks created from recordings of birdsong and sampling twigs and grasses to create new instruments which all feel unique. There is some incredible talent here that reaffirms my belief that young people do genuinely care about the world we co-inhabit with so many other beings." 

Elizabeth Alker, presenter of Radio 3's new music show Unclassified, said: "Unclassified is a show for artists who work across genres so I've really enjoyed being a judge for this prize which welcomes acts from a range of different disciplines. The future of the planet affects us all and it's been a privilege to hear talented young composers make work which celebrates and advocates for the natural world. Our special 'Tune Into Nature' episode of Unclassified is a showcase of all the shortlisted acts and each one deserves to be heard on BBC Radio 3".  

  

Listen to a playlist of the shortlisted tracks on SoundCloud here: https://soundcloud.com/m1lesr/sets/tune-into-nature-music-prize 

Find out more about the Tune Into Nature Music Prize here: https://www.tuneintonaturemusicprize.info/