The South Bank Sky Arts Awards – the first and only awards ceremony to celebrate every genre of the arts, including Dance, Theatre, Pop, TV Drama, Film, Classical Music, Literature, Opera, Comedy and Visual Art – returns on Sunday 10 July. The ceremony, presented by Melvyn Bragg, will take place at The Savoy Hotel and will air on Wednesday 13 July at 10pm on Sky Arts, the UK’s only free-to-air TV channel dedicated to arts, music and culture.
Channel 4’s We Are Lady Parts - created, written, and directed by Nida Manzoor - is nominated in the Comedy category alongside two BBC shows: Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck and Sophie Willan’s Alma’s Not Normal. Nominations for Theatre include the Young Vic and Headlong co-production Best of Enemies, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club - starring Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley - and The Walk, the incredible project that saw 3.5m puppet Little Amal travel through over 70 cities across the world.
Nominated in the Pop category this year is Little Simz with her fourth studio album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. Joining her to battle it out for the top spot are Sam Fender and Self Esteem with their hotly anticipated second albums, Seventeen Going Under and Prioritise Pleasure. The TV Drama category celebrates some incredible TV moments of the past year, with Russell T Davies’ critically-acclaimed series, It’s A Sin, Time starring Sean Bean and Stephen Graham and This Is Going To Hurt, based on Adam Kay’s bestselling memoir, all receiving a nomination.
The Times Breakthrough Award shines a spotlight on up-and-coming talent in the British Arts; also announced this morning were Gabrielle Creevy (TV Drama), Liz Kingsman (Comedy), Catriona Ward (Literature), Nardus Williams (Opera), Dani Howard (Classical), Rachel Jones (Visual Art), Emily Suzuki (Dance), Samuel Creasey (Theatre), Emilia Jones (Film) and Wet Leg (Pop). Previous winners include playwright Samuel Bailey, actors Jessie Buckley and Tom Hiddleston, and musicians Nubya Garcia and Stormzy.
The Outstanding Achievement Award - an award that acknowledges the remarkable contribution an artist has made throughout their career to date - will be announced at the ceremony. Previous winners of this award include Grayson Perry, Harold Pinter, Tracey Emin, Judi Dench, Eddie Izzard, Helen Mirren and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The South Bank Sky Arts Awards host, Melvyn Bragg comments: “The British Arts forge on with enormous vigour and international success - we could make a claim to be the world centre of culture! Back again for our 26th South Bank Sky Arts Awards, a brilliant swathe of artistic talent appears - across every spectrum of the Arts.”
FULL LIST OF NOMINEES:
VISUAL ART (SPONSORED BY LEXUS)
Rachel Whiteread: Internal Objects, Gagosian
Michael Armitage: Paradise Edict, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Hurvin Anderson: Reverb, Thomas Dane Gallery
THEATRE
The Walk: The Walk Productions in association with Handspring Puppet Company and Good Chance Theatre
Best of Enemies: A Young Vic and Headlong co-production
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
DANCE
The Dante Project – Wayne McGregor: The Royal Ballet
Then Or Now: Ballet Black
Starstruck: Scottish Ballet
LITERATURE
Love Marriage: Monica Ali
Burntcoat: Sarah Hall
Open Water: Caleb Azumah Nelson
POP
Little Simz: Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
Sam Fender: Seventeen Going Under
Self Esteem: Prioritise Pleasure
OPERA
Theatre of Sound, Bluebeard's Castle
Birmingham Opera Company, Wagner’s RhineGold
Opera North, Rigoletto
COMEDY
Starstruck, Series 1, BBC One (pictured)
We Are Lady Parts, Channel 4
Alma’s Not Normal, BBC Two
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Huw Watkin’s Symphony No.2: The Hallé
Dani Howard - Trombone Concerto: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Up for Grabs, Mark-Anthony Turnage: BBC Symphony Orchestra, Barbican
TV DRAMA
It’s A Sin: Red Production Company for Channel 4 and HBO Max in Association with All3Media International
Time: BBC Studios for BBC One
This Is Going To Hurt: Sister / Terrible Productions for BBC One
FILM
After Love
Boiling Point
Passing
THE TIMES BREAKTHROUGH AWARD
Comedy - Liz Kingsman
TV Drama - Gabrielle Creevy
Literature - Catriona Ward
Opera - Nardus Williams
Classical - Dani Howard
Visual Art - Rachel Jones
Dance - Emily Suzuki
Theatre - Samuel Creasey
Film - Emilia Jones
Pop - Wet Leg
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
To be announced
The South Bank Sky Arts Awards – Wednesday 13 July, 10pm
