The big winners this year are Sam Fender, for Songwriter of the Year, Rosalía for International Songwriter of the Year, Lola Young for PRS Most Performed Work (for her single ‘Messy’) and CMAT for Best Album (‘Euro-Country’). 

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Jacob Alon, a skyrocketing Scottish-born singer-songwriter, took home 2 awards last night. Their song ‘Don’t Fall Asleep’ won Best Song Musically and Lyrically, and they also won the Rising Star award. 

Honorees for the night included George Michael and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. Both were honored with Academy Fellowships. 

For Michael’s posthumous honor, his former Wham! bandmate, Andrew Ridgeley accepted the award. Ridegely said of the acceptance on behalf of Michael, “it’s an honour and a privilege to bear witness to his work full stop, and to accept on his behalf, he would have been immensely proud to be recognised by the academy in this way, to be placed amongst some of the finest songwriters.” 

Yorke’s honor was presented by surprise guest, Harry Styles. He said Radiohead is his “favourite band.” He also said Yorke “has time and time again shown us what the future sounds like,” calling him a “restless creative” and “an artist in its truest form.” 

Other winners include Kano for the Visionary Award, which recognises an artist who’s “musical vision has made a clear impact on fellow creators.” Calvin Harris picked up the Icon award for his work across his 15 year career. And Lily Allen won the award for Outstanding Song Collection which recognises an artist’s entire catalog of songs. 

CMAT took home Best Album for her 2025 work, ‘Euro-Country.’ The Ivors Academy commended the work, saying, “CMAT blends confessional songwriting with sharp humour, vivid storytelling, and social commentary while exploring themes of identity, relationships, and modern anxieties through a personal lens.” ‘Euro-Country’  is CMAT’s third album. It was nominated for the 2025 Mercury Prize as well as peaking at Number 1 on the Irish Albums and UK Independent Albums Charts. See her acceptance speech below.   

 

 

 

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Rosalía won International Songwriter of the Year. The Ivors Academy noted her work on 2025’s ‘LUX’  as “not only a bold and innovative artistic step forward for Rosalía, but a revelatory project that transcended language and genre barriers.” This marks Rosalía’s first Ivor Novello Award. 

 Elton John was recognized at the Ivors Academy’s first-ever president. The position is described as being “reserved for individuals who have reached the pinnacle of their songwriting or composing profession and are committed to giving back by supporting the community and advancing the Academy’s mission to protect the future of music.” In his speech, John told the audience, made up of some of the industry’s most prestigious songwriters, “No matter what kind of music you write, it’s yours, you own it… It came from your soul, it means a hell of a lot to you. And don’t let people take it away from you, especially AI.”

See the complete list of winners at the 2026 Ivor Novello Awards here. Listen to both winners and nominees of the awards at Amazon Music’s Ivors 2026 playlist, below.