Arctic Monkeys triumph at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2014

Bridget Christie, The Selfish Giant and Tracey Emin all win at the most prestigious arts awards in the world

David Bowie’s The Next Day, arguably 2013’s most talked-about album released after a ten year musical hiatus, today lost out to the Arctic Monkeys at the prestigious South Bank Sky Arts Awards. AM, the band’s fifth album, which has been praised as ‘the most incredible album of their career’ also emerged triumphant against Disclosure’s debut album Settle.

In a glittering ceremony attended by some of the most illustrious patrons, practitioners and performers  in the arts, the winners in visual art, theatre, opera, dance, comedy, classical music, pop, TV drama, literature and film were presented with their awards for the best in the Arts in 2013. Hosted by Melvyn Bragg, this is the seventeenth year of the awards and its fourth year in association with Sky Arts.

Rising comedic star Bridget Christie was a surprise winner in the Comedy category with her show A Bic for Her, which triumphed over Steve Coogan for Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa and Sky Arts’ Psychobitches which stars Mark Gatiss, Rebecca Front and Julia Davis.

Steve Coogan was also nominated in the Film category for Oscar-nominated Philomena but lost out as Ken Loach presented the Film award to The Selfish Giant, Clio Barnard’s gritty story of the life of a teenage scrap scavenger. The Selfish Giant also beat Le Week-End in this category, Hanif Kureishi’s story of an ailing marriage which stars Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan.

BBC Two had two nominations, both in the TV Drama category for Top of the Lake and The Fall but it was ITV’s critically acclaimed thriller Broadchurch that triumphed on the day.

Stephen Mangan presented The Times Breakthrough Award to the comedian Nick Helm, currently starring in BBC 3’s Uncle.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Dame Evelyn Glennie and Imelda May performed at the awards, which took place at The Dorchester in London.  Simon Russell Beale, Lenny Henry, Darcey Bussell, Paul Abbott, Lady Antonia Fraser and Gavin Turk were just some of the presenters involved in this year’s ceremony. 

The South Bank Sky Arts awards are the UK’s most coveted arts awards, celebrating the best of British culture and achievement. The ceremony will be broadcast at 9.30pm on Sky Arts 1 HD on Thursday evening (30 January).

This year, Sky Arts also announced the recipients of Sky Academy Arts Scholarships, in partnership with IdeasTap, five annual scholarships which support emerging UK artists. The artists each receive a £30,000 bursary, as well as mentoring from Sky and the arts industry to help develop their skills and take their work to the next level.  This year, Sky Academy will be supporting choreographer Eleesha Drenna, sculptor James Lomax, creative producer and puppeteer Tom McDonagh, jazz drummer and composer Ollie Howell and theatre designer David Shearing. For details on their work visit sky.com/academy.

The 2014 South Bank Sky Arts award itself was designed by the legendary pop artist Sir Peter Blake, who famously co-created the album sleeve for The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The new series of The South Bank Show will begin on Sky Arts 1 in the spring. The subjects for this year’s series will be announced imminently.

SOUTH BANK SKY ARTS AWARD WINNERS 2014

Comedy: Bridget Christie: A Bic for Her

Presented by Lenny Henry. Other nominees were Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa and Psychobitches – Sky Arts

Theatre: Let The Right One In, National Theatre of Scotland

Presented by Simon Russell Beale. Other nominees were Othello, The National Theatre and Chimerica, Headlong and Almeida Theatre

Visual Art: Katie Paterson, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge and Tipping Point, Wolverhampton Art Gallery

Presented by Gavin Turk. Other nominees were Michael Landy: Saints Alive, The National Gallery and Sarah Lucas: Situation, Whitechapel Gallery

Times Breakthrough Award presented by Stephen Mangan to Nick Helm

Film: The Selfish Giant

Presented by Ken Loach. Other nominees were Le Week-End and Philomena

Opera: Written on Skin, Royal Opera House

Presented by Danielle De Niese. Other nominees were Paul Bunyan, Welsh National Youth Opera and Grimes on the Beach, Aldeburgh Festival

Pop Music: Arctic Monkeys, AM

Other nominees were David Bowie, The Next Day and Disclosure, Settle

Dance: Dracula, Mark Bruce Company

Presented by Darcey Bussell. Other nominees were Atomos, Wayne McGregor I Random Dance and Le Corsaire, English National Ballet

Classical: The Rest is Noise, Various Artists, Southbank Centre

Presented by Dame Evelyn Glennie. Other nominees Songs from the Same Earth, Harrison Birtwistle,  The Britten Festival, Aldeburgh Festival  Totentanz, Thomas Adès, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall

TV Drama: Broadchurch, ITV

Presented by Paul Abbott. Other nominees were The Fall, BBC 2 and Top of the Lake, BBC2

Literature: Life After Life, Kate Atkinson

Presented by Lady Antonia Fraser. Other nominees were The Kills, Richard House and Marriage Material, Sathnam Sanghera

The Outstanding Achievement Award, in association with the Dorchester, presented by Frank Skinner to Tracey Emin

“The shortlist demonstrated an extraordinary breadth and range of artistic disciplines and the richly- deserving winners all examples of the most exciting and unique talents at work in the UK today,” comments Melvyn Bragg, presenter and host of The South Bank Sky Arts Awards.  “I am delighted to be able to honour and celebrate them as they deserve.” 

“Our association with these prestigious awards underpins the aims and ethos of Sky Arts as a channel, which is to celebrate the very best of the arts across all fields,” comments James Hunt, Channel Director of Sky Arts. “It is an enormous honour to work with Melvyn and his team to bring these awards to Sky customers at what is clearly a hugely exciting time for the UK arts scene and arts broadcasting.”

The judges of this year’s South Bank Sky Arts Awards were: Gillian Greenwood, Producer,The South Bank Show and Writer (Panel Chair); Baz Bamigboye, Arts Entertainment Columnist, Daily Mail;  Richard Brooks, Arts Editor, The Sunday Times;  Matt Cain, Novelist and former Culture Editor, Channel 4 News; John Cassy, Director, Sky 3D; Sarah Donaldson, Arts Editor, The Observer; Manisha Ferdinand, Head of PR Sky Arts, Sky Atlantic & Sky Movies; Boyd Hilton, TV & Reviews Editor, Heat Magazine; Alex O'Connell, Arts Editor, The Times; and Archie Powell, Producer, The South Bank Show.

For further information please contact: 

Katherine Solomon

PR Manager, Sky Arts

T: 020 7032 0599

E: Katherine.solomon@bskyb.com

Notes to Editors

South Bank Show

The South Bank Sky Arts Awards (Previously the South Bank Show Awards) are now in their 16th year and are still the only awards ceremony in the world that represent the entire spectrum of British arts, from visual arts to opera, television drama to dance, film to literature. In addition to the 10 main categories, there are also two special awards: The Times Breakthrough Award, voted for by Times readers, which recognises up and coming talent across the arts, and The Dorchester Outstanding Achievement Award which celebrates an individual's extraordinary contribution to the arts.

The awards, which are presented by Melvyn Bragg at The Dorchester, always attract an eclectic mix of people. Previous attendees include Ronnie Wood, J K Rowling, Sir Ian McKellen, Darcey Bussell, Dame Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Sir Tom Stoppard, Rachel Weisz, Russell Brand,, Damien Hirst, and Sir Richard Attenborough. 

Previous winners include Arctic Monkeys, Sir Cameron Macintosh, Peter Grimes, Elbow, Sherlock and Amy Winehouse.