Ziggy Ramo, Barkaa Lead FBi Radio’s 2020 SMAC Awards Winners

January 28, 2021

FBi Radio have announced the winners of the 2020 Sydney Music, Arts and Culture Awards, lead by rapper Ziggy Ramo, who took home both Album of the Year for Black Thoughts along with Song of the Year for ‘April 25th’. Barkaa, meanwhile, received the station’s Next Big Thing Award. Both artists performed live from the FBi Radio studios in Sydney last night as part of the awards broadcast. You can watch those below.

Other award winners on the night included Dobby (Best Video), Blackfulla Book Club (Best Pandemic Pivot) and Moreblessing Maturure (Best Artist). The SMAC of the Year award went to Bundjalung Widjabul woman, activist, writer and organiser Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts.

“The 2020 SMAC of the Year recipient has worked to pull the eyes of a nation down from high-profile overseas cases of systemic racism to those playing out within our own borders; to expose the hallmarks of a justice system weaponised against people of colour. Having been forcibly removed from her own family just as the Rudd government was apologising to the Stolen Generation, this year’s recipient knows all too well that the actions of those in power don’t always match their rhetoric,” said FBi Radio Managing Director Nikki Brogan when introducing Turnbull-Roberts last night.

“She has called out this chronic failure of leadership, and helped focus the broader community’s attention on Indigenous deaths in custody and the continued forcible removal of children from their families. Through her fearless writing, organising and activism, she channels the emerging generation’s rejection of incremental change in the face of such clear systemic discrimination.”

See the full list of award winners – along with Ziggy and Barkaa’s performances – below.