Sky Arts Awards
The Sky Arts Awards are an accolade recognising British and Irish achievements in the arts. The awards have been given annually since 1997.
They originated with the long-running British arts programme The South Bank Show and Melvyn Bragg, who has served as patron, host and master of ceremonies of the awards until his retirement from the show in late 2023.
The last South Bank Show Awards ceremony to be broadcast by ITV was in January 2010 and was held at The Dorchester hotel in London. After the network announced that The South Bank Show would be cancelled at the end of the 2009 season, the awards ceremony continued to be broadcast by Sky Arts and was eventually renamed the South Bank Sky Arts Awards. Sky Arts revived The South Bank Show itself in 2012.
In 2024, the ceremony's name was simplified after the final season of The South Bank Show in 2023. Although press releases refer to these as the inaugural Sky Arts Awards, the categories remained unchanged from previous ceremonies, although two new ones were added, namely Poetry and Arts Hero, the latter an award dedicated to celebrating the unsung heroes whose work behind the scenes in the arts sector is invaluable.
Award categories
In addition to awards in each of the individual categories, the Sky Arts Awards also include the Outstanding Achievement in the Arts Award recognising lifetime contributions to the arts in Britain, and the Times Breakthrough Award recognising outstanding new British talent. The latter being the only category that is decided by a public vote. Past winners of the Outstanding Achievement in the Arts Award include Julie Walters, Michael Frayn, Dame Judi Dench, JK Rowling, and The Who.Between 2004 and 2010, the Arts Council England deciBel Award found a home at the ceremony. Winners included Roy Williams for Fallout, Neil Biswas for Bradford Riots, Daljit Nagra for Look We Have Coming To Dover!, street artist Mohammed Ali, and Julie McNamara.
Later between 2013 and 2016, the ceremony was used as the platform to announce the winners of the Sky Academy Arts Scholarships.
As of the 28th annual ceremony, there were 14 award categories:
2024 awards (28th annual ceremony)
With The South Bank Show no longer being broadcast, this year saw the ceremony rebranded to simply The Sky Arts Awards. Shortlisted nominees were announced on 25 July 2024. This year's trophy, in the form of a bronze, was designed by Vic Reeves. A new award for Arts Hero was launched in this year to recognise the unsung heroes who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make the arts possible. The shortlist was up drawn from nominees suggested by the arts community. Melvyn Bragg was given a lifetime achievement award in recognition of his sixty years as champion of the arts.2023 awards (27th annual ceremony)
Shortlisted nominees were announced on 15 June 2023. This year's trophy, in the form of a porcelain cat, was designed by former winner Grayson Perry.| Visual Arts | Theatre | Dance |
Winner – Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly in League with the Night
| Winner – Prima Facie: Harold Pinter Theatre | Winner – Light of Passage: The Royal Ballet |
| Literature | Pop Music | Opera |
| Winner – The New Life: Tom Crewe | Winner – Raye: My 21st Century Blues | Winner – The Rhinegold: English National Opera |
| Comedy | Classical Music | TV Drama |
| Winner – Big Boys: Roughcut Television / Channel 4 | Winner – Gavin Higgins' Concerto Grosso for Brass Band and Orchestra: The Tredegar Band with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Proms | Winner – Happy Valley: Lookout Point TV / BBC One |
| Film | The Times Breakthrough Award | Outstanding Achievement in the Arts |
| Winner – Aftersun | Winner – Dance : Musa Motha | Winner – Salman Rushdie |
2022 awards (26th annual ceremony)
Shortlisted nominees were announced on 30 June 2022.| Visual Arts | Theatre | Dance |
| Winner — 'Michael Armitage: Paradise Edict Internal Objects | Winner – Best of Enemies: A Young Vic and Headlong co-production | Winner – The Dante Project: Wayne McGregor, The Royal Ballet |
| Literature | Pop Music | Opera |
| Winner – Love Marriage: Monica Ali | Winner – Little Simz: Sometimes I Might Be Introvert | Winner – Rigoletto: Opera North |
| Comedy | Classical Music | TV Drama |
| Winner – We Are Lady Parts, Channel 4 | Winner – Huw Watkins' Symphony No.2: The Hallé | Winner – It's A Sin: Red Production Company for Channel 4 and HBO Max in association with All3Media International |
| Film | The Times Breakthrough Award | Outstanding Achievement in the Arts |
| Winner – Passing | Winner – Comedy: Liz Kingsman | Winner — Tamara Rojo' |