Jem won the National Eisteddfod in 2005 and was a finalist in the international piano competition, the Concurs D'Andorra in Spain, 2006. In 2008 he was the winner of the accompanist prize at the Mietta Song Award and accompanied the winning vocalist. In 2009 he was the recipient of the NSW Music Teachers Association Elizabeth Todd Lieder memorial prize in memory of Geoffrey Parsons and also won the Lieder Award at the McDonald's Performing Arts Challenge. He is currently employed at St. Andrew's Cathedral School, Sydney, as a full time accompanist.