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The MOBO Awards was established in 1996 by Kanya King and Andy Ruffell. The MOBO Award show is held annually in the United Kingdom.

The MOBO Awards was established in 1996 by Kanya King and Andy Ruffell. The MOBO Award show is held annually in the United Kingdom. Since its inception in 1996, the MOBO Awards has become one of Europe's biggest and most influential music award ceremonies, celebrating excellence in black music in the UK and internationally for more than 20 years in the musical fields of hip-hop, grime, RnB, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and African music. The MOBO Awards are seen[by whom?] as a UK equivalent to the BET Awards and Soul Train Awards. Music of black origin in Britain received its first serious journalistic coverage in Black Music magazine (1973-1984).

In 1996, the MOBO Awards was the first black music awards of its kind to be televised on mainstream terrestrial television, where it was first broadcast on Carlton Television from London's Connaught Rooms. Across its 22-year history, the MOBO Awards has been broadcast on Channel 4, BBC Television, ITV2 and most recently Channel 5.

In 2009, the awards ceremony was held for the first time in Glasgow. Prior to that, it had been held in London. In 2011, the ceremony returned for a second time to Scotland. The awards then moved to Leeds for the first time in 2015. The awards show returned to Leeds in 2017. In 2018, organizers announced that the ceremony would have a one-year hiatus in order to plan a "bigger, revamped show" in 2019. The first MOBO award was presented to UK trio Baby D, in the Best Dance Act category.

From the outset, MOBO has played an instrumental role in the careers of numerous UK artists such as Stormzy, Craig David, Rita Ora, Ms. Dynamite, Krept, and Konan and Kano.

The ceremony was the first broadcast regionally on ITV and produced by Carlton Television from 1996 to 1997 before moving to Channel 4 (aired nationwide) from 1998 until 2003. Since 2004 the awards have been broadcast by the BBC, and in 2006 the show was aired live for the first time in its history on BBC Three and repeated two days later on BBC One. Highlight shows were broadcast on BBC One in a late-night timeslot. In 2014, the awards show moved to ITV2 in a three-year partnership contract due to the BBC launching its own pop music awards. A full repeat was broadcast later the same evening on the main ITV channel. In 2017, the awards show was broadcast on Channel 5 and BET.