Sky Arts has announced the nominees for the coveted 2026 Sky Arts Awards.
Eleven art forms make up this year’s categories, along with the very special Lifetime Achievement, Arts Hero and The Times Breakthrough Award – celebrating trailblazers, visionaries and lifelong champions of the arts.
Nick Mohammed, Sam Nicoresti and Susie McCabe are all nominated in the Comedy category for their critically acclaimed shows: Show Pony, Baby Doomer and Coming of Rage respectively.
In the Classical Music category Music in the Round and Ensemble 360 are nominated for the vibrant Sheffield Chamber Music Festival, Anna Meredith is nominated for her groundbreaking body of work, and Chineke! are nominated for their remarkable 10-year anniversary concerts.
The hotly contested Dance category sees Marc Brew and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui nominated for their stunning collaboration an Accident / a Life; Alesandra Seutin receives a nomination for Mimi’s Shebeen, and Oluwaseun Alatise for AfroDanceBlast, a leading platform celebrating African dance and culture.
In the Film category, multi-award winning Hamnet faces tough competition from British Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr’s directorial debut My Father’s Shadow and the deeply human queer drama Pillion.
In Literature, acclaimed short story writer Wendy Erskine is nominated for her brutal and tender debut novel The Benefactors, alongside Oyinkan Braithwaite for Cursed Daughters, and Robert Macfarlane for the exhilarating Is a River Alive?
In Opera, the Welsh National Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru have been nominated for bringing Britten's masterpiece Peter Grimes to life. The English National Opera are nominated for their thought-provoking production of Dead Man Walking, and the Irish National Opera and Jennifer Walshe are nominated for their artistically ambitious MARS.
Poet, rapper and cultural producer Danny Carlo Pandolfi is nominated in Poetry for Raise the Bar – his poetry events organisation and writers’ development platform. He’s joined by Ashley Hickson-Lovence for Why I Am Not a Bus Driver? - a moving and musical debut collection exploring grief, love and the power of community, and Joelle Taylor’s collection Maryville, exploring underground histories of queer London.
In the Popular Music category CMAT is nominated for her third studio album, the genre-busting EURO-COUNTRY, joined by Jim Legxacy for the tender black british music and Jacob Alon for their emotionally raw In Limerence.
In Television, BBC One’s heartbreaking Babies is up against two powerful documentaries in Netflix’s Grenfell: Uncovered and Channel 4’s Gaza: Doctors Under Attack.
Graeae Theatre Company’s gripping and devastating Bad Lads is nominated in Theatre, joining the West End transfer of two-time Olivier Award-winning Punch from KPPL Productions and finally theatre powerhouse Michael Sheen for his work with the Welsh National Theatre.
And in Visual Art, Andy Goldsworthy is nominated for his ambitious exhibit Fifty Years, along with acclaimed British artist Linder for Danger Came Smiling and Julianknxx for Shifting / Spirit / Time – an ambitious multi-screen film installation.
Arts Hero and Times Breakthrough winners will be revealed in due course.
All winners will be announced during the ceremony on 13th October.
Watch The Sky Arts Awards 2026 on Sky Arts, Freeview and streaming service NOW on Tuesday 13th October at 9pm
