LONDON — Olivia Dean, Wolf Alice and Lily Allen are among the nominees for the 71st Ivor Novello Awards after The Ivors Academy unveiled a 2026 shortlist featuring 61 individual British, Irish and UK resident songwriters and composers, alongside their international collaborators, with 34 first-time nominees, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Peer-judged across album, song and screen categories, the awards again place songwriting craft at the center of the British and Irish music calendar.
In its official announcement, The Ivors Academy said winners will be revealed May 21 at Grosvenor House, London, and noted that Olivia Dean, Jacob Alon, Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell, Self Esteem, Johan Hugo, Kae Tempest and Fraser T Smith all picked up two nominations. Chair Tom Gray called peer recognition “one of the greatest honours in music writing,” while the academy framed the 2026 awards as a timely affirmation of human creativity as AI and authorship debates continue to reshape the business.
Ivor Novello Awards 2026 nominations put the album and song races in focus
The Best Album field is especially strong, bringing together Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving, Wolf Alice’s The Clearing, Lily Allen’s West End Girl, CMAT’s EURO-COUNTRY and Jim Legxacy’s black british music (2025). PRS for Music’s full shortlist also underlines the breadth of the 2026 field, from Kae Tempest’s two nominations in Best Contemporary Song to Jacob Alon appearing in both songwriting and Rising Star.
Best Song Musically and Lyrically pairs Wolf Alice’s “The Sofa” with Jacob Alon’s “Don’t Fall Asleep,” Florence + The Machine’s “Everybody Scream,” Self Esteem’s “Focus Is Power” and Sugababes’ “Weeds.” In PRS for Music Most Performed Work, Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” sits alongside Lola Young’s “Messy,” Myles Smith’s “Stargazing,” Chrystal’s “The Days” and Coldplay’s revived “Viva La Vida,” a wrinkle Sky News highlighted in its roundup because the category tracks actual performance data rather than release date alone.
Screen composition remains a serious lane at the Ivors, with Best Original Film Score nominations for Bugonia, Dragonfly, Nosferatu, Testimony and The Brutalist, while the television shortlist includes Adolescence, Lazarus and Summerwater. That range helps explain why the Ivors still occupy a singular place in the UK awards calendar: they reward writers across formats, not just chart-facing artists.
How the Ivor Novello Awards 2026 nominations extend a recent pattern
The 34 first-time nominees feel notable, but they are part of a broader trend. In the 2025 nominations, 66% of the field were first-time nominees, suggesting the academy has been steadily widening the door while keeping established names in the conversation.
That pipeline is already producing visible carryover. When the 2025 winners were announced, Lola Young took the Rising Star Award; one year later, she returns in PRS for Music Most Performed Work for “Messy.” That movement, from emerging writer to mainstream songwriting contender, gives the 2026 shortlist more than one-day news value.
For Dean, Wolf Alice and Allen, the nominations reinforce how heavily the Ivors still prize albums and songs that feel authored rather than assembled. For the 34 newcomers, they offer something just as valuable: peer recognition at an awards show that continues to treat songwriting as the main event.
