Tolu Makay, Sello and Offica among winners at the Black & Irish awards

The first Gala awards for the recognition of Black Irish creatives was held over the weekend in the Hilton Hotel in Dublin with the aim of celebrating Ireland’s most influential and rising stars of the Black and mixed-race community.

The awards were run by Black & Irish, an organisation set up last year after the death of George Floyd to highlight and celebrate the identity of black and mixed-race Irish people.

The Black & Irish Awards were hosted by Black and Irish and For The Culture Fest and recognised he success and outstanding achievements of emerging and established talent across ten different fields in the Media and Entertainment space.

Among the musicians recognised were Tolu Makay, Sello and Offica.

Sello is one of our best new Irish artists of 2021, while Tolu and Offica were both featured in last year’s list.

See the nominees and winners below.

Nominees

Podcast of the Year – WYHA Podcast – Nessers Pod – OhMan Podcast

Platform of the Year (Sponsored by Branded Royal) – Basix Back – CIE – Slight Motif

Personality of the Year (Sponsored by Dubliner Whiskey) – Dongo – Victoria Adeyinka – Victor Alfred

Activist of the Year (Sponsored by ISA) – Mamobo Ogoro – Angel Artura – Lohas

Influencer of the Year (Sponsored by We are Human Co) – Katja Mia – Abeeb Yusuf – Billy Kiss

Entrepreneur of the Year (Sponsored by Virgin Media) – Mixed by Simba – Freeborn Nobel – Afo (Designer Cutzz)

Breakthrough Artist of the Year (Sponsored by Warner Music Ireland) – Sello – Negro Impacto – Plantain Papi

Female Artist of the Year (Sponsored by Guinness) – Tolu Makay – Aby Coulibaly – Denise Chaila
Male Artist of the Year (Sponsored by Guinness) – Offica – Monjola – Evans Junior

Community Star of the year (Sponsored by Intel) – Erica Cody – Zeda the Architect – Blezzing Dada