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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Ivors Academy (@ivorsacademy)

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

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Ivors Academy (@ivorsacademy)

Charli XCX picked up the prize for the Ivor Novello ‘Songwriter of the Year’. In her down-to-earth, humorous manner, she demonstrated her “songwriting genius” by quoting the lyrics for her song ‘Club Classics: “I wanna dance to me, me, me / When I go to the club, club, club.”

She joked, “I’m sure you all agree, I am hardly Bob Dylan. But one thing I certainly do is commit to the bit.”

Charli’s win adds another notch under her belt, after an incredible year of critical acclaim and new heights of fame following ‘Brat‘. As well as her new Ivor, she won big at the Brits earlier this year, taking home five awards, as well as three at the Grammys.

Lola Young managed to claim the ‘Rising Star’ award, after the success of her breakthrough single ‘Messy’, which spent four weeks at No. 1 on the UK charts. She’s since performed and been nominated at the Brits, played at Coachella, and is set to take to the stage at Glastonbury later this summer.

After winning the award, she told the BBC: “This is such a big moment for the kid in my bedroom that was 10 years old, writing songs on her guitar. To be here now is such an honour, and such a gives me such a warm feeling.”

Rapper/producer/songwriter Berwyn also saw victory last night, grabbing the award for ‘Best Album’, with his debut release, ‘Who Am I’. The judges praised the record and its “vivid storytelling that transcends generations, race and social differences, offering a voice to those often unseen by society”.

This year’s awards saw 22 songwriters and composers collecting prizes in 14 categories. While 70% of the winners this year were first-timers, it wasn’t only new talent that was being celebrated. Rock heroes U2 became the first Irish band to win the ‘Fellowship of the Ivor Novello Songwriting Academy’.

U2 performed tonight at the Ivor Novello awards, seen here performing an”Angel of Harlem”, we’ll have a more complete report later. And yes, that’s Larry Mullen performing with them on stage.

Video clip here via Universal: https://t.co/RaNzIfRTeg #U2 pic.twitter.com/IsurzO39VH

— U2Songs.com (@u2songs) May 22, 2025

Accepting the academy fellowship, Bono spoke on the strength and power that music can have: “Songs can be arrows through time if they come from the right place,” he said.

“They can fly higher and farther, last longer, hit harder. They can pierce the hardest armour of the human heart.

“I don’t know if they can change the world, but they changed us.”

As the band played an acoustic version of their political anthem, ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, Bono asked for peace in the on-going Israel-Gaza conflict. The singer said: “Hamas release the hostages. Stop the war. Israel be released from Benjamin Netanyahu.

“All of you protect our aid workers, they are the best of us.”

Robbie Williams was also given the ‘PRS For Music Icon’ award. The British pop legend has recently released a single called ‘Rocket’ from his upcoming record, ‘Britpop‘. Honouring a career going back to his beginnings with boyband Take That in the 90’s, to his high-selling solo hits like ‘Angels’, ‘Rock DJ’ and ‘Feel’, he tried to describe the feeling of taking the ‘icon’ title with him.

“When momentous things like this happen, it’s just a hodge-podge of things coming at you from the universe,” he said backstage.

“It’s self-doubt and self-hatred mixed with ego and delusion and audacity.

“So it’s very difficult to put your finger on what it feels like in the moment, other than you’re supposed to say, ‘I’m very grateful’. And I am.”

You can find the full Ivor Novello awards winners list below.

Songwriter of the year

Charli XCX

Academy Fellowship

U2

Music icon award

Robbie Williams

Best album

Berwyn – Who Am I

Best contemporary song

Sans Soucis – Circumnavigating Georgia

Best song musically and lyrically

Orla Gartland – Mine

Most performed work

Myles Smith – Stargazing

Rising star

Lola Young

Best original film score

The Substance – Raffertie

Best original video game score

Farewell North – John Konsolakis

Best television soundtrack

True Detective: Night Country – Vince Pope

Outstanding song collection

Bloc Party

Special international

Brandon Flowers

Visionary award

Self Esteem

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bloc Party (@thisisblocparty)

Bloc Party have spent their career making their voice to be distinctive and unique in today’s modern music, known by all for their always evolving sounds. Their first release ‘Silent Alarm’ back in 2005 reshaped the indie world for years to come with ground-breaking fusion of indie, rock, electronica and house.

Kele Okereke, lead singer of Bloc Party, said to The Ivors official website: “To be recognised for songwriting is a very special thing for an artist, and receiving an Ivor Novello award for Outstanding Song Collection is a massive honour. Even before you form a band, play a show or record a note, you’re writing songs – it’s at the core of being an artist. It’s amazing to see people connecting with Bloc Party’s music, from those who’ve loved the band from the start, to more and more young people we’re seeing at our shows over the past few years; inspiring us to push forward as a group whilst also being privileged to look back at everything we have already achieved.”

With an extra five studio albums added to their names, Bloc Party have proved their brilliance both as songwriters and musicians with their rare ability to fuse introspective lyricism with a bold, dynamic sound. Their sophomore album ‘A Weekend in the City’ saw the band expand their sound with atmospheric textures and politically charged themes, earning them a #2 spot in the UK albums chart. In 2008, ‘Intimacy’, another daring shift for the band, embraced electronic production and experimental song structures. Their 2022 release ‘Alpha Games’ was met with widespread critical acclaim, reaffirming Bloc Party’s fearless creativity and ever-evolving artistry.

Roberto Neri, CEO of The Ivors Academy, said: “Bloc Party have made a lasting impact on British music through fearless and innovative songwriting and an unwavering artistic vision. With emotional depth and urgency, their songs continue to inspire fans and songwriters around the world. We’re proud to honour Kele, Russell, Gordon and Matt with the Outstanding Song Collection Ivor Novello Award, recognising their craft and the impact of their work.”

Bloc Party rounds the number of songwriters who have received the award up to sixty-two, following in the footsteps of John Deacon, Brian May, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor (Queen), Bono, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jnr and The Edge (U2), Philip Cunningham, Gillian Gilbert, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner (New Order), Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey, Russell Senior and Mark Webber (Pulp), Noel Gallagher, Steve Winwood, KAMILLE and KT Tunstall.

This year’s fellow nominees are Lola Young, Charli XCX, RAYE, Ghetts and more.

Celebrating a decade of the grassroots music venue movement, MVT will be hosting the largest gathering of people who run grassroots music venues (GMV) in the world. The event will offer an opportunity to reflect on progress made in the UK and the challenges still being faced by the sector.

This year’s Venues Day theme will centre around the importance of the artists and the role GMVs play in inspiring, nurturing and connecting them with audiences while offering them an opportunity to experiment and develop new ideas. As ever, Venues Day will also offer networking opportunities, the chance to share experiences and information and a platform to discuss important issues.

The event represents the single biggest opportunity to engage directly and in person with the GMV sector as it is designed specifically for members of the Music Venues Alliance, providing attendees with workshops, discussions, presentations and networking that offer practical support to the people who run these vital venues and connect them with services that can help them.

A series of panels exploring the common goals of artists and venues has now been confirmed with speakers including: Sam Duckworth (Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly), Lily Meff (The Meffs), Kwame Kwaten (Ferocious Talent), Stina Tweeddale (Honeyblood), Nathan Clark (Brudenell Social Club), Rhoda Dakar, Tom Gray (The Ivors) and Jane Beese among others.

Music Venue Trust represents over 800 UK grassroots music venues, has held this one day event for the sector since 2014, with delegates representing venues, promoters, agents, artists, government departments, funding bodies and a wide range of ancillary service providers.

Bev Whitrick, Chief Operating Officer at Music Venue Trust said, “The landscape for GMVs in 2024 is still challenging. 10 years of work has not solved everything, but this annual opportunity to bring our community together to update on progress, offer support, forge new connections and celebrate the wins is needed now more than ever. Venues Day 2024 is THE event for the GMV sector and everyone who has a stake in it.”

Hundreds of delegates from across the UK’s grassroots music venue sector, representing venues throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, have already booked their places at the event.

Longtime supporters of MVT and headline sponsors Ticketmaster, Fred Perry and Jack Daniels have also allowed Venues Day 2024 to offer subsidised delegate passes and travel bursaries to ensure that venue representatives from across the UK can attend.

Thanks also to the generosity of Ticketmaster Venues Day 2024 will end with a fully catered after-party for delegates and special guests who have been instrumental in MVT’s work over the past 10 years.

Taking place at Woolwich Works in London on Tuesday 8th October 2024, there are a limited number of remaining tickets for Venues Day 2024. Priced at £168, they can be booked here.