James Bay wins Critics’ Choice award

James Bay is the 2015 BRITs Critics’ Choice Award winner.

The 24-year-old singer-songwriter has beaten off competition from over 100 up-and-coming acts to take the prize, with George The Poet and Years & Years named runners up and he admitted he was ”speechless” to scoop the prestigious accolade.

He said: ”I’m pretty speechless. After all the years I’ve spent watching the BRITs and even after this year; watching my fan base grow so much, I never ‎thought I’d actually be getting an award myself. And what a huge honour to be following the incredible artists who’ve won before! I’m really chuffed, thank you to everyone who has supported me.”

James – who recently completed a sell-out UK tour and has also supported acts including Tom Odell and John Newman – will receive his award at the ‘BRITs Are Coming’ nominations show on 15 January ahead of the main BRIT Awards with MasterCard ceremony at London’s The O2 on 25 February.

As well as picking up his trophy, James will perform on the show, as will Clean Bandit and FKA Twigs.

The Critics’ Choice Award – which has previously been won by the likes of Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding, Adele and Jessie J – was chosen by a panel of experts, who considered artists who are signed to a record label and have a debut album set for release in 2015.