The Ivor Novello Awards recognise excellence in British and Irish songwriting and composition for the screen. The award body remarks on their official site “winning an Ivor Novello is the highest global recognition for songwriting and composing.” This year, the ceremony is in partnership with Amazon Music and is set to take place on 21 May at London’s Grosvenor House.

61 nominees were named Tuesday (24 March) across seven different categories. And of those, 34 nominees are first time recipients. This includes Dean, Alon and Self Esteem co-writer Johan Hugo.

Veteran nominees include two-time winner Little Simz, who has gotten her fifth ever Ivor nod for her single ‘Free’ in Best Contemporary Song. Damon Albarn also received his fifth nomination for the Gorillaz’s ‘Damascus’ which features Omar Souleyman and Yasiin Bay.

Lola Young has picked up her fourth ever nomination at the Ivors for her song, ‘Messy’ which is up for PRS for Music Most Performed Work. Welch joins Young in receiving her fourth Ivor Novello nomination, this year’s comes for her song, ‘Everybody Scream,’ for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. The song is co-written by Mistki and Mark Bowen.

Lily Allen’s ‘West End Girl’ is nominated for Best Album which marks the singer’s third Ivor nomination. And Coldplay also gets their third nod for their single ‘Viva La Vida’ for the PRS for Most Performed Work.  This category is said to celebrate “songs that received the most broadcast, online and general performances in the last year, based on PRS data.”

CMAT’s ‘Euro-Country’ has been nominated for Best Album, which is the Irish singer’s second nomination. The Ivors describe the Best Album category as celebrating “exceptional songwriting craft, creativity and cohesion across the record as a whole.” Other contenders for the award include Dean’s ‘The Art of Loving,’ Jim Legacy’s ‘Black British Music’ and Wolf Alice’s ‘The Clearing.’ Dean commented on the Instagram post below announcing her Best Album nomination with four heart emojis, and reposted the announcement to her Instagram Stories. Dean’s second nomination this year comes for her song, ‘Man I Need’ in the Most Performed Work category.

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Meanwhile, Tempest is set to compete against himself in for Best Contemporary Song with both ‘I Stand on the Line’ (co-written by Fraser T Smith) and ‘Know Yourself’ (co-written by Smith and Tom Rowlands) nominated for the award.   The Rising Star Award with Amazon Music is another exciting category at the Ivors. 2026 nominees include kwn, Jacob Alon, Chloe Qisha and Skye Newman. The award recognizes songwriters from the UK and Irelands who the Ivor Academy believes are “at the tipping point of greatness.” Last year’s nominees include, PinkPantheress, Holly Humberstone, Rachel Chinouriri and Lola Young, who won the award in 2025.   The Ivor Novello Awards are peer-judged by fellow songwriters and composers. They remain the most prestigious and enduring award to celebrate craft and cultural achievement. And at a time tense with generative AI edging into the creative industries, the Ivors Academy says “when questions around authorship and AI are reshaping the music landscape, The Ivors stand as a powerful affirmation of human creativity and the cultural value of songwriters.”   While fans wait for the awards ceremony on 21 May, Amazon Music has curated an “Ivors 2026″ playlist, including many nominees and spanning a wide variety of genres, here. See the full list of nominees in the post below

 

 

 

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