Lily Allen, Olivia Dean and Lola Young nominated for Ivor Novello awards 2026

Damon Albarn, Wolf Alice and Self Esteem are also among the 61 artists, composers and songwriters nominated for this year’s Ivor Novello Awards.

First presented in 1956, the Ivor Novello awards celebrate exceptional craft, originality and cultural impact in songwriting and screen composing. Previous winners include Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Adele, Bruce Springsteen, Amy Winehouse, Charli xcx, RAYE and Stormzy.

For 34 of this year’s nominees, this is their first Ivor Novello nomination. Among these newcomers are Olivia Dean, Jacob Alon, and Self Esteem co-writer Johan Hugo, who each received two nominations.

Previous nominees Self Esteem, Kae Tempest and co-writer Fraser T Smith, and Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell have also received two nominations.

For Best Contemporary song, Little Simz has received her fifth Ivor Novello nomination for her song Free. She previously won Best Album in 2020 for Grey Area and Best Contemporary Song in 2022 for I Love You, I Hate You.

This year, Lola Young has been nominated for the fourth time, while Damon Albard has received his fifth nomination, having previously won the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

With West End Girl, her first album in seven years, Lily Allen was nominated for the Best Album category. Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine has also received her fourth nomination for Everybody Scream, co-written by Mitski and Mark Bowen, in the Best Song Musically and Lyrically category.

This year, Coldplay has also received a nomination for the PRS for Music Most Performed Work award with their 2008 song Viva La Vida.

CMAT and Myles Smith have both received their second Ivor Novello Award nominations, CMAT for her album EURO-COUNTRY and Myles Smith for Stargazing, alongside co-writers Peter Fenn and Jesse Fink.

“Congratulations to all the songwriters and composers nominated for this year’s Ivor Novello Awards,” said Tom Gray, chair of the Ivors Academy. “To be recognised by your peers for exceptional craft and originality at The Ivors is one of the greatest honours in music writing, and we look forward to celebrating their achievements at The Ivors with Amazon Music on 21 May.”

“I want to congratulate these incredible nominees, whose work reflects the strength, diversity and global influence of British and Irish songwriting, which we are honoured to celebrate,” added Roberto Neri, chief executive of the Ivors Academy. “An Ivor Novello Award has, for over 70 years, been the most prestigious recognition of excellence in music, and I'd like to thank our judges for working hard to recognise this year’s nominees.”

Winners are to be announced on May 21st, 2026.