Who won what at the 2022 South Australian Music Awards?

Self-starting hip-hop artist Elsy Wameyo took out five awards at the 2022 SAMs event, which also featured sets from DEM MOB, Nancy Bates and Corey Theatre, Tilly Tjala Thomas and WANDERERS.

Words: Johnny von Einem
Pictures: Samuel Graves
Above: Best Innovation winner Sharni Honor of Porch Records

The full suite of 2022 South Australian Music Awards winners were announced at a ceremony last night, held at Hindley Street Music Hall.

Hip-hop artist Elsy Wameyo was the major winner of the night, taking home five awards – just shy of Teenage Joans’ record-making seven wins last year.

Elsy took out Best Song for ‘River Nile‘, Best Release for her Nilotic EP, Best Solo Artist, Best Music Video for ‘Nilotic‘, an award she shared with Richard Couburn, and Best Studio Engineer/Producer for her self-produced work on Nilotic (which you can read more about here).

“Wameyo, who recently supported Adelaide’s own Hilltop Hoods on their national tour and performed at some of the biggest festivals in the country including Dark Mofo, Vivid, and WOMADelaide, along with being billed to play this year’s Falls Festival, is the perfect example of how to carve a burgeoning musical career from Adelaide and we are excited to watch Elsy’s career grow,” says Music SA CEO Christine Schloithe.

There were other multi-award winners – Electric Fields took out Best Group in the Major Award categories and the People’s Choice Pop award, and SONS OF ZÖKU won Best Cover Art, via the awarded artist Paloma Ellery, and People’s Choice Experimental.

The 2022 SAMs also saw the introduction of two new regional categories, Best Regional Artist and Best Regional Venue/Activation, which were awarded to Tilly Tjala Thomas, who also performed on the night, and Big Easy Radio, respectively.

Other performances included a high-energy opening set from APY rappers DEM MOB, a hushed tribute to the late Archie Roach from Nancy Bates and Corey Theatre, and People’s Choice Soul/Funk/R’n’B winners WANDERERS closed proceedings.

Check out the full list of 2022 SAM Awards winners below.