Tom Odell is "honoured" to have won the BRITs Critics’ Choice Award for 2013.
The 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Sussex, South East England, beat nominees AlunaGeorge and Laura Mvula to be chosen for the prestigious award – which also makes him the first male recipient.
Sharing his excitement on Twitter, Tom posted: "I feel very very honoured to win the Brits Critic Choice award, and I genuinely can’t believe it. Thankyou for all your support xxxxxxx (sic)"
Tom studied at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music and made his debut TV appearance on ‘Later With Jools Holland’ last month shortly after releasing his first EP, ‘Songs From Another Love’.
Speaking about his nomnation he tweeted: "I feel privileged to be in the same company as previous nominees of the caliber of Adele (2008), Emeli Sande (2012) and Michael Kiwanuka (2012)."
Tom’s career has had a helping hand from semi-retired singer Lily Allen – who signed him to her ITNO label and has compared him to legendary musician David Bowie.
She recently said: "He was discovered by a friend of mine. I went to see him play and signed him to my label straight away. His voice if fragile yet powerful and he sings mainly love songs.
"I’m not usually a massive fan of singer-songwriter stuff, but when I saw him live his energy onstage reminded me of David Bowie. It’s not soppy and moany at all, it’s energetic and insightful. And he’s totally gorgeous as well! Blond hair and blue eyes, and simply just lovely."
Tom will collect his gong at the BRIT Awards on February 20 2013 in London.