INDUSTRY NEWS: The 2025 AWMAs Finalists Are Here - Come Meet The Heavy Queens!

Tiana Speter
Jul 29
2 min read

The 2025 Australian Women In Music Awards finalists have been officially announced today, with the program established in 2018 geared towards addressing the gender inequality across the full spectrum of the Australian Music Industry.

In just four years, AWMA has delivered programs which have driven systemic change to make visible female First Nations and multi-cultural artists, women working in remote and regional communities, female producers, engineers and technicians, emerging artists, elders, and gender diverse music practitioners across all genres of music, and each year the conference and awards show shines an incredible spotlight on the endless amazing femme talent around the industry.

As someone fortunate enough to have been even in the same breath as many of the nominees in 2024, I can't express how inspiring it was to sit in that room last year celebrating non-stop achievements and wins with people I look up to, people I work with on a daily basis and a whole heap of new ones I'd never even crossed paths with. Sharing the heavy music category with Mikaila Delgado and Moni Lashes was a total dream, and now it's 2025 and we officially have confirmation of the 3 x next finalist nominees for the 'Women In Heavy Music Award' for this year!

The AWMA 'Women In Heavy Music Award' recognises a female or gender-diverse person who has made contributions of outstanding significance as an artist, musician, music practitioner, agent, artist or label manager, supporter and/or advocator of Heavy Music.

A huge shout out and congrats to these amazing Heavy Queens: Leah Martin-Brown, Chrissy McHugh and Monica Strut - come learn a bit more about these three awesome ladies below!

LEAH MARTIN-BROWN

Leah-Martin Brown is an Aussie singer-songwriter and guitarist who started her journey in the Australian music scene which eventually led her to Los Angeles, performing with the group Evol Walks, and then onto Sweden. An artist dedicated to pushing the boundaries of genre and style, Leah has worked with legendary producers and songwriters like Robert 'Mutt' Lange and Tony Nilsson and is set to drop a brand new single Rainbow on August 4.

FOLLOW LEAH HERE!

CHRISSY MCHUGH

By the age of 16, Chrissy McHugh launched The MoshPit Music website, and by 18 she was covering red carpet events at the MusicOz Awards and the ARIAs. Since then, she founded Dreamscape Creative Agency, a hybrid production company and creative agency, works as a music video producer, producing videos for everyone from Ed Sheeran through to RedHook, and is also an ambassador for the music and mental-health charity Listen Up Music.

FOLLOW CHRISSY HERE!

MONICA STRUT

For any readers who have followed this website's 2024 Women In Heavy Music series, Monica Strut will be no stranger, and music lovers in general would know Monica for her work as the vocalist for The Last Martyr. Monica is also a music business coach for emerging bands and musicians, a music journalist, recently appeared in the Scream Queens Panel chatting all things women in heavy music, and her 2024 EP Requiem with The Last Martyr hit the ARIA Australian Albums charts.