A host of outstanding performers, artists, musicians, authors and films have been nominated for The South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2018. Now in its 22nd year, the prestigious annual awards ceremony will take place at The Savoy Hotel in London on Sunday 1 July 2018, celebrating the wide range of creative talent Britain has to offer, from Stormzy to Paddington 2.
Hosted by Melvyn Bragg, The South Bank Sky Arts Awards this year will continue its legacy as the only awards ceremony in the world to represent the entire spectrum of the arts, with categories for TV Drama, Classical Music, Theatre, Comedy, Dance, Film, Visual Art, Pop, Literature and Opera.
Christopher Nolan’s nail-biting war epic Dunkirk is nominated in an incredibly strong Film category, which includes the hilarious Paddington 2 and independent filmmaking success Lady Macbeth. Meanwhile, Olivier Award-winning productions The Ferryman and Follies are nominated in the Theatre category alongside The Jungle, while newcomer Dua Lipa caps off a barnstorming breakthrough year in the Pop category, alongside Stormzy for Gang Signs & Prayer and Loyle Carner for Yesterday’s Gone. The TV Drama category pitches the explosive Line of Duty against period pieces The Crown and Howards End.
The celebration also includes The Times Breakthrough Award, recognising achievements made by newcomers across the full range of the arts; previous winners include Amma Asante, Tom Hiddleston, Billie Piper and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a cellist whose star is on the rise following his captivating performance at the Royal Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The climax of the event is the Outstanding Achievement Award, presented for continued excellence in British culture; previous winners include Harold Pinter, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tracey Emin, J K Rowling and Helen Mirren.
Melvyn Bragg said: “The Creative Industries generate £92 billion a year, and yet the funding cuts in the arts in schools are very worrying. A recent study of 1,200 secondary schools found that 90% had cut back on arts teachers, facilities and equipment. Since 2010, there has been a 28% drop in pupils taking arts GCSEs, with a corresponding drop in the number of arts teachers being trained. This means that the future of everything we stand for and everything we’re good at is being threatened. But what we also stand for are events like these awards, which show how rich and diverse the arts in this country are.”
Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts, said: “With funding for the arts and arts education facing challenging times, Sky Arts’ work supporting artists and the creative industries is more important than ever. We are proud to host The South Bank Sky Arts Awards which reflect the breadth and diversity of talent and voices in the creative industries.”
Artist Yinka Shonibare MBE, Fellow of the Royal Academy, has been commissioned to design this year’s award, which he describes as an expression of how he supports the importance of the Arts as they remain of value to our humanity. Check out the full list of nominations below!
An unmissable event in the British awards calendar, the ceremony will be held at The Savoy Hotel in London on Sunday 1 July 2018, and will be broadcast on Sky Arts later in the week.
Full List of Nominees
VISUAL ART
Mat Collishaw – Thresholds, Somerset House
Paula Rego – The Boy Who Loved the Sea and Other Stories, Jerwood Gallery
Rose Wylie – Quack Quack, Serpentine Sackler Gallery
COMEDY
Catastrophe – Channel 4
Inside No. 9 – BBC Two
This Country – BBC Three
THEATRE
The Ferryman – Royal Court / Gielgud. Produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, Neal Street Productions & Royal Court Theatre Productions
Follies – National Theatre
The Jungle – A Young Vic and National Theatre co-production with Good Chance Theatre. Commissioned by the National Theatre
FILM
Lady Macbeth
Dunkirk
Paddington 2
DANCE
Maliphantworks – Russell Maliphant Company
Flight Pattern – The Royal Ballet
Pina Bausch’s Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) – English National Ballet
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Gurrelieder – BBC Philharmonic and the Hallé
Enescu’s Oedipe – London Philharmonic Orchestra
This is Rattle – London Symphony Orchestra
LITERATURE
Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie
Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret – Craig Brown
La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One – Philip Pullman
OPERA
Pelléas and Mélisande – Scottish Opera
Hamlet – Glyndebourne
Albert Herring – The Grange Festival
POP
Stormzy – Gang Signs & Prayer
Loyle Carner – Yesterday’s Gone
Dua Lipa – Dua Lipa
TV DRAMA
Line of Duty – World Productions / BBC One
The Crown – LEFT BANK Pictures / Netflix
Howards End – Playground / BBC One
THE TIMES BREAKTHROUGH AWARD
Pop – Nubya Garcia
Comedy – Sophie Willan
TV Drama – Alex Lawther
Dance – Dickson Mbi
Theatre – Monica Dolan
Classical Music – Oliver Zeffman
Opera – Rachel Redmond
Literature – Imogen Hermes Gowar
Film – Francis Lee
Visual Art – Heather Agyepong
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
To Be Announced
