Sky Arts Awards winners announced

The winners of the inaugural Sky Arts Awards have been revealed in a broadcast ceremony from the Roundhouse in London.

Recognising a variety of disciplines from across the arts communities, the event itself was hosted by comedian and presenter Joe Lycett. At the event, Lycett also mapped out a “manifesto” for the arts, supplying a series of actionable policies for the government to implement right now to prevent a further decline in arts funding, attendance and support.

These include banning ticket touts, providing business rate guarantees, and promoting the presence of arts subjects on the curriculum.

Amongst the winners was playwright Ryan Calais Cameron, whose work include For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy and Retrograde, as well as Welsh National Opera and dance group Boy Blue.

Arts broadcaster and interviewer Melvyn Bragg was recognised for his lifetime’s achievement, while soprano Sally Spencer won the Arts Hero Award.

You can see the full list of winners and nominees below:

Classical Music 

• Anoushka Shankar for Chapter II: How Dark it is Before Dawn 
• James MacMillan for The Cumnock Tryst 2023  – WINNER
• Richard Blackford for Songs of Nadia Anjuman 

Comedy 

• Blindboyboatclub for The Blindboy podcast
• Fern Brady (body of work) – WINNER
• Julia Masli for ha ha ha ha ha ha ha 

Dance 

• Boy Blue (body of work) – WINNER
• Clod Ensemble for The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady   
• Michael Keegan-Dolan for How To Be A Dancer in Seventy- two Thousand Easy Lessons  

Film 

• All Of Us Strangers 
• How To Have Sex – WINNER
• Occupied City 

Literature 

• Salman Rushdie for Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder    
• Paul Murray for The Bee Sting  – WINNER
• Claire Kilroy for Soldier Sailor  

Opera 

• Welsh National Opera and NoFit State Circus for Death in Venice  – WINNER
• Royal Opera House for Wozzeck
• English National Opera (body of work)

Poetry 

• Momtaza Mehri for Bad Diaspora Poems  – WINNER
• Karen McCarthy Woolf and Nathalie Teitler for editing the Mapping the Future anthology
• Jackie Kay for May Day

Popular Music 

• Cleo Sol (body of work)
• Dave & Central Cee for “Sprinter”
• The Last Dinner Party for Prelude to Ecstasy – WINNER

Television 

• Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland
• The Sixth Commandment
• Mr Bates vs The Post Office  – WINNER

Theatre 

• @sohoplace (body of work)
• Ryan Calais Cameron (body of work) – WINNER
• The Sherman Theatre, Cardiff (body of work)

Visual Arts 

• Lindsey Mendick for Sh*tfaced    – WINNER
• Soheila Sokhanvari for Rebel Rebel   
• Steve McQueen for Grenfell 

The Times Breakthrough Award

• Ben Goldscheider: Classical Music
• Ania Magliano: Comedy
• Jemima Brown: Dance
• Savanah Leaf: Film
• Kaliane Bradley: Literature
• Aigul Akhmetshina: Opera – WINNER
• Ella Frears: Poetry
• Kneecap: Popular Music
• Adjani Salmon: Television
• Ben Weatherill: Theatre
• Claudette Johnson: Visual Arts