ADVERTISEMENTThis year’s Ivor Novello Awards marks its 70th year of celebrating outstanding achievements in the field of songwriting and composition.
2025’s ceremony, held last night at Grosvenor House in London, saw 22 songwriters and composers collecting awards over 14 categories, with over 70% of winners being first-timers.
Charli XCX, Lola Young, Self Esteem, U2 and Robbie Williams were among the winners.
Check out the full list below.
Charli XCX was named Songwriter of the Year. Her album ‘Brat’, which featured in Euronews Culture’s Best Albums of 2024, was praised for its global and cultural impact.
“I’m sure you all agree, I am hardly Bob Dylan,” she joked to an audience that included Bruce Springsteen, “but one thing I certainly do is commit to the bit”.
Berwyn won his first Ivor Novello, taking home the award for Best Album. The judges commended his album ‘Who Am I’’s “vivid storytelling that transcends generations, race and social differences, offering a voice to those often unseen by society”.
Lola Young received the Rising Star Award, Self Esteem took home the Visionary Award, and Raffertie won Best Original Film Score for their work on the soundtrack from the Oscar-winning film The Substance.
Check out our interview with Coralie Fargeat, the director of The Substance.
Elsewhere, winners include Orla Gartland (Best Song Musically And Lyrically), Sans Soucis (Best Contemporary Song), Robbie Williams (Music Icon) and U2 (Academy Fellowship).
U2 became the first Irish band to win the Ivor Novello fellowship, with the award recognising almost 50 years of hits, including ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, ‘I Will Follow’, ‘With Or Without You’ and ‘One’.
Speaking on stage, Bono paid tribute to the power of music. “Songs can be arrows through time if they come from the right place,” he said. “They can fly higher and farther, last longer, hit harder. They can pierce the hardest armour of the human heart. I don’t know if they can change the world, but they changed us.”
Here are the Ivor Novello 2025 winners in full:
- Songwriter of the year: Charli XCX
- Academy Fellowship: U2
- Music icon award: Robbie Williams
- Best album: Berwyn – Who Am I
- Best contemporary song: Sans Soucis – Circumnavigating Georgia
- Best song musically and lyrically: Orla Gartland – Mine
- Most performed work: Myles Smith – Stargazing
- Rising star: Lola Young
- Best original film score: The Substance – Raffertie
- Best original video game score: Farewell North – John Konsolakis
- Best television soundtrack: True Detective: Night Country – Vince Pope
- Outstanding song collection: Bloc Party
- Special international: Brandon Flowers
- Visionary award: Self Esteem
