Ivor Novello Awards 2018 - as it happened: Ed Sheeran named Songwriter of the Year while Stormzy wins Best Album
Annual songwriting honours 'the pinnacle of musical achievement and peer recognition'
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Your support makes all the difference.The 63rd Ivor Novello Awards took place on Thursday 31 May (today), with some of the UK's biggest artists - including Ed Sheeran, Elbow and Stormzy - taking home awards.
Stormzy and Sheeran received the top prizes, for Album of the Year and Songwriter of the Year, respectively.
Accepting his award from last years recipient Laura Mvula, Stormzy said: “YES. Very very happy right now. Obviously this is an award that only recognises your pen and your art so... properly wanted to win this one.
"YES. Man. I worked so hard on my album from an artistic point of view, I worked so hard, I made sure my pen was as sharp as it could be. YES.”
Sheeran, who also won the prize for Most Performed Work (for his monster hit "Shape of You"), praised Stormzy for his win and also thanked his co-writers, management and label for their support.
Also honoured were several legends of the music industry, including Lionel Richie, Billy Ocean, Shane McGowan of The Pogues, Billy Bragg, and songwriter Cathy Dennis.
To be eligible for the awards this year, works must have been commercially released in the UK in 2017 and have a British or Irish songwriting contribution of at least one third.
Presented and judged by music creators, the Ivors aim to represent "the pinnacle of musical achievement and peer recognition".
The liveblog is now closed:
Sheeran has two songs in the running for the Most Performed Work category: "Castle On The Hill" and "Shape of You", both from his latest album Divide. He is competing against Rag'n'Bone Man's hit song "Human", from his debut album of the same name.
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"BASCA's nominations for the 2018 Ivor Novello Awards are, as ever, a mirror of the eclectic and inspirational reach of current UK music," BASCA chair Crispin Hunt commented.
"The Ivors' purpose is to recognise and celebrate excellence in British and Irish music writing across Song, Album, Television, Film, and this year, Video Games.
"As the only peer nominated music award ceremony in the country, the Ivors are inherently about musical merit and communication more than promotion, and we're especially excited to be able to honour some of the phenomenal talents of the contemporary British music writing scene. Talent admired the whole world over."
2017 was a successful year all round for UK music, with record label revenue growth returning to a level last seen during the height of the Britpop era.
According to a report by industry association the BPI, combined revenue from streaming, downloads, physical sales and licensing for use in films, TV and video games rose by 10.6 per cent to £839m last year.
Part of that success was attributed to the global sales figures accrued by artists such as Sheeran, Stormzy, Adele and Rag'n'Bone Man - eight of the 10 best-selling UK albums of 2017 were by UK artists, while Sheeran's album Divide was the most popular record across all formats last year, breaking several industry records.
Hopefully you've cleared your calendar to follow another of The Independent's stellar liveblogs on this rather grey Thursday.
The ceremony itself doesn't kick off until 2.30 this afternoon, but if you're lucky we might share some photos of our lunch at Grosvenor House - we're expecting great things.
In the meantime here's a reminder of the nominations in full. This year they're led by Ed Sheeran, Stormzy, and Rag'n'Bone Man, with Everything Everything, This Is The Kit, Elbow and Daughter also among the nominees
Everyone's sitting down to dinner and some wine (not me, obvs, I'm working)
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