
Tuesday 16 September 2025
ALL RED-CARPET ARRIVALS AND WINNERS IMAGERY CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE
The Sky Arts Awards took place this evening hosted by Bill Bailey at the Roundhouse, London, celebrating incredible achievements across the entire spectrum of the arts. Building on last year's inaugural event and the legacy of the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, tonight's ceremony showcased the absolute best of British and Irish arts and culture.
Guests from the Arts world in attendance this evening included Bob Geldof, Sir Lenny Henry, Anita Rani, Myleene Klass, and Jim Moir plus many more. Guests were treated to an array of striking live performances from the Royal Ballet and Bob Geldof's iconic rock band The Boomtown Rats, Dirty Blonde and Nyah Grace all lighting up the stage. Back on home turf, ska-pop legends Madness closed the celebrations in style.
Nominees across all categories were shortlisted and assessed by independent juries comprised of industry peers from all artistic disciplines. Tonight's ceremony, broadcast on Sky Arts and Freeview, saw a host of artists take home the coveted awards.
Lola Young received the Popular Music award for her unflinching, unapologetic album This Wasn't Meant For You Anyway.' Standout drama Adolescence, which raised urgent questions about youth violence and sparked debate in Parliament was victorious in the Television category. Elf Lyons' groundbreaking Horses' won for Comedy, whilst Conclave, the political thriller directed by Edward Berger, took home the Film gong.
Nederlands Dans Theatre and Complicit won the accolade for Dance for their interdisciplinary and fearless work Figures in Extinction.' As well as celebrating established artists, the Awards also shone a light on emerging talent with The Times Breakthrough Award, which was presented this year to Owen Cooper, who gave a remarkable, breakthrough performance in Adolescence' and has just become the youngest ever male actor to win an Emmy.
Further wins include LUNG who took home the Theatre award for their bold musical The Children's Inquiry,' Opera North won in the Opera category for Simon Boccanegra' directed by PJ Harris with Antony Hermus conducting. Barbara Walker's Being Here' won for Visual Art and Bold Tendencies for Classical Music, whilst Caleb Femi's life-affirming work The Wickedest' and Sally Rooney's devastating exploration of grief in Intermezzo' were awarded the Poetry and Literature awards, respectively.
Singer, songwriter, author, and political activist Bob Geldof was this year's recipient of The Lifetime Achievement Award. Geldof rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats, and today is widely recognised for his extraordinary influence as a musician and cultural figure.
Rising to fame as the outspoken frontman of The Boomtown Rats, Bob became one of the defining voices of the 1970s punk era before going on to co-create Band Aid and the historic Live Aid concerts, which reshaped the relationship between music and global activism. With a career spanning music, business and philanthropy, he remains one of the most iconic cultural figures of his generation.
Sky Arts Awards also honours the unsung heroes from the Arts world and this year's Arts Hero award was clinched by Diane Carroll, who is the Assistant Manager at ran M r in Glasgow, and since 2004 has been working the ticket desk for the venues lunchtime phenomenon A Play, A Pie and A Pint, checking people in and giving the warmest welcome at over 600 shows. Diane knows many people by name and is loved by regulars who come every week to the shows - and some just to see Diane.
All winners were presented with this year's statuette, designed and made by Lindsey Mendick, last year's Visual Art award winner. On creating the awards, Lindsey took inspiration from a number of sources and wanted to subvert the iconic BAFTA statuette. On the importance of the arts, Lindsey commented: The arts are so important because they mirror back a breadth of our feelings. Artistic expression will be one of the things that will continue long after we're all here and it's so important to be here as a document of our time.
Phil Edgar-Jones OBE, Executive Director of Unscripted Originals at Sky, said: The Sky Arts awards celebrates the very best in our Arts and Culture - and we believe we need the joy our artists, singers, dancers, musicians, writer and poets bring more than ever.
It's about telling our stories and listening to the stories of others that we can create a more empathetic society. We need this more than ever in an increasingly divided world. We believe that by bringing our stories to everyone for free we can make a difference and celebrate the joy our creative industries provide.
The Sky Arts Awards is commissioned by Phil Edgar-Jones, Executive Director of Unscripted Originals at Sky for C cile Frot-Coutaz, CEO of Sky Studios & Chief Content Officer for Sky.
Notes to editors:
For further information, please contact
PREMIER PR: skyartsawards@premiercomms.com
Lucy Butterfield: Lucy.Butterfield@sky.com
FULL LIST OF WINNERS:
THEATRE: LUNG
DANCE: Nederlands Dans Theatre and Complicit
TELEVISION: Adolescence
OPERA: Opera North
CLASSICAL MUSIC: Bold Tendencies
COMEDY: Elf Lyons
FILM: Conclave
VISUAL ART: Barbara Walker
POETRY: Caleb Femi
LITERATURE: Sally Rooney
POPULAR MUSIC: Lola Young
ARTS HERO: Diane Carroll
THE TIMES BREAKTHROUGH: Owen Cooper
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Bob Geldof
Latest news
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
23/01/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 29 July, 2025 - Yospace, the global leader in Dynamic A...
23/01/2026
Spotify's annual Best New Artist celebration honors the rising stars whose talent, creativity, and dedication have propelled them to the music industry'...
23/01/2026
Paramount is transforming its operations by unifying the media supply chains of their top brands into a scalable global pipeline.
This transformation enhances ...
23/01/2026
Every delay costs. When a subtitle fails QC, even the smallest issue can mean missed deadlines, extra vendor costs, or frustrated teams. The new Accurate.Video ...
23/01/2026
Friday 23 January 2026
Sky appoints Lisa Clark as Commissioning Executive for SNL UK
Lisa Clark headshot
PNG (468KB)
Lisa Clark joins Sky as Commissioning E...
23/01/2026
RT is delighted to announce that the RT and F s ireann / Screen Ireland supported short film Retirement Plan has been nominated for Best Animated Short at th...
22/01/2026
Last November, Ed Sheeran returned to his musical roots for an intimate, one-nig...
22/01/2026
Every delay costs. When a subtitle fails QC, even the smallest issue can mean missed deadlines, extra vendor costs, or frustrated teams. The new Accurate.Video ...
22/01/2026
Rohde & Schwarz, Qualcomm, and Motorola demonstrate successful 5G Broadcast comp...
22/01/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
21/01/2026
Wednesday 21 January 2026
Backing Britain on the global stage: Sky becomes an o...
21/01/2026
Fox Corporation Executives to Discuss Second Quarter Fiscal 2026 Financial Resul...
21/01/2026
Baselight v7 brings colourists and post-houses smarter mattes, faster workflows and deeper control
FilmLight, known for its detailed colour toolset and longsta...
21/01/2026
RT News is pleased to announce the appointment of Jackie Fox as its new Washington Correspondent. Jackie is a multimedia journalist with RT News and has repor...
19/01/2026
Monday 19 January 2026
Sky News reinvents News at Ten for the modern audience with The Wrap
Sky News today announces The Wrap, a bold evolution of its 10pm ou...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones is striking a new chord in piano miking with the debut of its DPK2015 Piano Stereo Kit, an out-of-the-box, plug-and-play miking solution that ta...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones will present its 4099 CORE Instrument Microphone and redesigned...
19/01/2026
Trianel relies on Arvato Systems for future-proof data center operations
Moving to the cloud: Arvato Systems implements extensive IT migration project
Migrat...
19/01/2026
Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize
RT Choice Music Prize
In association with IMRO and IRMA
Irish Album of the Year 2025 - Shortlist Announce...
18/01/2026
January 18 2026, 21:30 (PST) Dolby Cinema Arrives in Bengaluru: Dolby Laborator...
16/01/2026
The start of a new year brings fresh possibilities. Whether you're diving in with big goals or simply setting new intentions, audiobooks can bring inspirati...
16/01/2026
In 2025 we launched the Spotify Partner Program to give creators more ways to tu...
15/01/2026
The SGL Carbon site in Bonn has a long tradition of training. For many years, young talent has been successfully trained here, regularly achieving excellent exa...
15/01/2026
The JEC Composites Innovation Awards annually honor the most innovative and ambi...
15/01/2026
X-energy Reactor Company, LLC ( X-energy ) and SGL Carbon LLC ( SGL ) have signed a 10-year framework agreement to provide graphite for the deployment of X-ener...
15/01/2026
RT is tonight announcing that Mari Hurley has decided to leave her role as RT 's Chief Financial Officer to take up a new position outside RT . Mari will r...
15/01/2026
15 Jan 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Reaches 3.0 million Customers with Starlink Dir...
15/01/2026
Views to free streaming service U grew by 15%, average monthly active users by 23% and registrations by 18%
UKTV's channels achieved record viewing share, ...
15/01/2026
Thursday 15 January 2026
Sky Sports to show Final Stage of inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup
Sky and FIFA have agreed an exclusive new partnership whi...
15/01/2026
Thursday 15 January 2026
The official trailer for the second season of Seth Mac...
15/01/2026
Wuppertal January 15, 2026
Riedel RefCam Takes Center Court in German Basketba...
15/01/2026
Arvato Systems Named Launch Partner for AWS European Sovereign Cloud
As a launch partner for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, Arvato Systems enables customer...
14/01/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 13th January, 2026 - ITV, one of the UK's leading broadcasters, has selected Yospace, the global leader in Dynamic Ad Insertion (DA...
14/01/2026
Steiger Media's adoption of Calrec's compact Argo M console not only makes its innovative new hybrid truck faster, more efficient, and agile, but also e...
14/01/2026
Press Release: The Boston Globe Names Cartesian a Top Place to Work in 2025
January 14, 2026
News
Cartesian - January 14, 2026 - EINPresswire.com - Sp...
14/01/2026
Comscore and Marcus Theatres Announce Five-Year Extension for Cinema ACE and Ent...
14/01/2026
Comscore and Santikos Entertainment Announce Five-Year Circuit Wide Commitment t...
14/01/2026
Wednesday 14 January 2026
Sky News announces Cathy Newman to lead flagship new political programme
Sky News today announces that award-winning journalist and ...
14/01/2026
The first stamp of An Post's 2026 Stamp Programme, marking 100 Years of Broadcasting, was unveiled at the GPO by Patrick O'Donovan TD, Minister for Cult...
14/01/2026
It's official! Beverley Callard has landed in Carrigstown. The beloved actor, known for her unforgettable roles and iconic screen presence, is joining the c...
13/01/2026
Independent media in Brazil and Colombia is facing an urgent crisis of traditional business models alongside a deteriorating security environment, according to ...
13/01/2026
Some days you want your music to reflect a specific feeling, memory, or vibe that goes beyond a single artist or genre. You want to do more than listen. You wan...
13/01/2026
Luxembourg, December 17, 2025 - SES S.A. ( SES or the Company ), a leading spa...
13/01/2026
Written and executive produced by Steve Lightfoot and Angela LaManna, produced b...
13/01/2026
New updates to Hitmaker Expansion from Celemony and Softube Edit pitch-perfect vocals with Melodyne Essential and get radio-ready guitar tones from Softube...