British saxophonist and composer YolanDa Brown has joined forces with philanthropist James Drake to launch The Drake YolanDa Award, providing financial support for emerging young artists to assist with artistic development, touring, recording new music, and purchasing new equipment.

The ceremony takes place at London music venue Under The Bridge on April 9, and Brown, who'll be joined on the award panel by industry professionals including choirmaster Gareth Malone, commented 'James and I strongly believe that money should not be an obstacle for pursuing your dreams and we want to provide a platform that will hopefully become the beginning for many success stories'.