The Ivors 2023 awards nominees list has been revleaed, with Kate Bush, Harry Styles, and Little Simz among those competing for the event’s top honours.
Taking place on Thursday, May 18 at London’s Grosvenor House, The Ivors recognises songwriters and composers across nine categories, including Songwriter of the Year, Best Album, Best Original Film Score, Best Contemporary Song, PRS for Music Most Performed Work and the Rising Star Award. Since launching in 1956 as the Ivor Novello Awards, The Ivors is widely regarded as the most prestigious celebration of songwriting talent. Each award is judged by an award-winning panel of songwriters and composers from the Ivors Academy.
The nominees for the 2023 Songwriter of the Year award include Florence Welch (Florence + the Machine), Harry Styles and Kid Harpoon, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers (Wet Leg), George Daniel and Matty Healy (The 1975) and Central Cee and Young Chencs.
Up for Best Album are Arctic Monkey’s The Car (written by Alex Turner), Obongjayar’s Some Nights I Dream of Doors (written by Barney Lister and Obongjayar) and Fontaines D.C.’s Skinty Fia (written by Grian Chatten, Thomas Coll, Conor Curley, Conor Deegan and Carlos O’Connell). Cleopatra Nikolic and Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover are both nominated twice in this category, for their work on Little Simz’s No Thank You and SAULT’s 11 alongside co-writers Jamar McNaughton and Jack Peñate.
Meanwhile, Knucks receives two nominations for Best Contemporary Song, one for his track Leon the Professional with co-writers Venna and Toshifumi Hinata and one for his feature on Kojey Radical’s Paybackthat also credits Swindle – who is responsible for composing the new theme music for the Ivor Novello ceremonies. The other nominations are Wesley Joseph and Leon Vynehall for Cold Summer, 070 Shake, RAYE and Mike Sabath for Escapism and Owen Cutts, P2J, PRGRSHN and Stormzy for Hide & Seek.
In the PRS for Music Most Performed Work category, Ed Sheeran makes history as Bad Habits is once again nominated after winning the award last year. He is the first ever artist to achieve the feat in this category, with his track Shivers also nominated. After a major surge of popularity following hit TV series Stranger Things, Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill is nominated 37 years after the track was originally among the nominees for Best Contemporary Song. Also nominated is Harry Styles As It Was and Glass Animals Heat Waves.
Also, as previously announced, the 2023 Ivors will see legendary singer and songwriter Sting become a Fellow of The Ivors Academy.
Tom Gray, chair of The Ivors Academy, said of this year’s awards: “The music nominated for an Ivor Novello this year is testament to the power and range of British and Irish songwriting and screen composing. It’s a superlative list and on behalf of The Ivors Academy I’m delighted to congratulate every writer nominated for their craft and achievements.”
Last year saw the likes of Dave, Ed Sheeran, Sam Fender, Fraser T Smith, and The Cure win big at the 2022 Ivors.
See below for the full list of Ivors 2023 nominees.
BEST ALBUM
11
written by Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, Jamar McNaughton, Cleopatra Nikolic and Jack Peñate
performed by SAULT
NO THANK YOU
written by Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, Little Simz and Cleopatra Nikolic
performed by Little Simz
SKINTY FIA
written by Grian Chatten, Thomas Coll, Conor Curley, Conor Deegan and Carlos O’Connell
performed by Fontaines D.C.
SOME NIGHTS I DREAM OF DOORS
written by Barney Lister and Obongjayar
performed by Obongjayar
THE CAR
written by Alex Turner
performed by Arctic Monkeys
BEST CONTEMPORARY SONG
COLD SUMMER
written by Wesley Joseph and Leon Vynehall
performed by Wesley Joseph
ESCAPISM
written by 070 Shake, RAYE and Mike Sabath
performed by RAYE & 070 Shake
HIDE & SEEK
written by Owen Cutts, P2J, PRGRSHN and Stormzy
performed by Stormzy
LEON THE PROFESSIONAL
written by Knucks, Venna and Toshifumi Hinata
performed by Knucks
PAYBACK
written by Knucks, Kojey Radical and Swindle
performed by Kojey Radical feat. Knucks
BEST ORIGINAL FILM SCORE
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
composed by Simon Franglen
DEATH ON THE NILE
composed by Patrick Doyle
DON’T WORRY DARLING
composed by John Powell
MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS
composed by Rael Jones
THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN
composed by Arthur Sharpe
BEST ORIGINAL VIDEO GAME SCORE
GOTHAM KNIGHTS
composed by The Flight
HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST
composed by Joris de Man, Oleksa Lozowchuk and The Flight
MARIO + RABBIDS SPARKS OF HOPE
composed by Gareth Coker, Grant Kirkhope and Yoko Shimomura
BEST SONG MUSICALLY AND LYRICALLY
AS IT WAS
written by Kid Harpoon, Tyler Johnson and Harry Styles
performed by Harry Styles
BEST DAY OF MY LIFE
written by Laurie Blundell and Tom Odell
performed by Tom Odell
COMPLEX
written by Katie Gregson-Macleod
performed by Katie Gregson-Macleod
KING
written by Jack Antonoff and Florence Welch
performed by Florence + The Machine
STRONGER
written by Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover and Cleopatra Nikolic
performed by SAULT
BEST TELEVISION SOUNDTRACK
BAD SISTERS
composed by PJ Harvey and Tim Phillips
ELIZABETH: THE UNSEEN QUEEN
composed by David Schweitzer
THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS
composed by Hannah Peel
THE RESPONDER
composed by Matthew Herbert
THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND THE CANOE
composed by Harry Escott and Ben Pearson
PRS FOR MUSIC MOST PERFORMED WORK
AS IT WAS
written by Kid Harpoon, Tyler Johnson and Harry Styles
performed by Harry Styles
BAD HABITS
written by FRED, Johnny McDaid and Ed Sheeran
performed by Ed Sheeran
HEAT WAVES
written by Dave Bayley
performed by Glass Animals
RUNNING UP THAT HILL
written by Kate Bush
performed by Kate Bush
SHIVERS
written by Johnny McDaid, Kal Lavelle, Steve Mac and Ed Sheeran
performed by Ed Sheeran
RISING STAR AWARD WITH AMAZON MUSIC
Cat Burns
Ines Dunn
tendai
venbee
Victoria Canal
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR WITH AMAZON MUSIC
Central Cee and Young Chencs
Florence Welch
George Daniel and Matty Healy
Harry Styles and Kid Harpoon
Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers