South Bank Sky Arts awards 2016 nominees announced

Pop band Years & Years, street artist Banksy and the TV adaptation of Wolf Hall have been announced as nominations for the 2016 South Bank Sky Arts awards, which are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year.

The awards are unique in focusing on the arts in their entirety and are due to take place in London on 5 June. Other nominations include an embroidery of the Magna Carta by artist Cornelia Parker, Northern Ballet’s 1984 and the Almeida theatre’s politically charged contemporary production of Aeschylus’s Oresteia.

There are 10 categories, including dance, opera, comedy, TV drama, literature, classical music, pop, film, visual art and theatre, along with the Times breakthrough award, which recognises up-and-coming talent and an outstanding achievement award.

The South Bank Sky Arts awards originated in 1996 in association with the South Bank Show, and Melvyn Bragg has served as editor and host since their inception.

In a statement, Bragg said the awards are a snapshot of a unique moment in British cultural history. He said: “It’s when 30 nominees in 10 categories meet to celebrate the best work being done by artists in this country across a wide range of ages and backgrounds. There are world-class performances, the awards of scholarships to new artists on top of the awards to the winners, judged by an independent panel, all resulting in a 90-minute programme that gives us a rich picture of where we are now in an area of achievement in which at the moment Britain can claim to be in a dominating position.”

Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts, said the awards “bring together probably the most inspiring room full of creative people it’s possible to assemble”.

Twenty years ago, in the inaugural awards, classic sitcom Father Ted won the comedy award, while performances from David Suchet and Diana Rigg in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? secured a win in the theatre category and Matthew Bourne’s retelling of Swan Lake won in the dance category. Through the years, other winners have included Seamus Heaney, Amy Winehouse, Alan Bennett, Gilbert and George, Grayson Perry, FKA Twigs, Rachel Whiteread, Antony Gormley, Florence + the Machine, Kate Bush, Ted Hughes and Hilary Mantel.

Winners of multiple South Bank Sky Arts awards in their individual categories include artist Anish Kapoor, director Shane Meadows, band Arctic Monkeys, director Sam Mendes, author Ian McEwan and playwright Michael Frayn. Frayn also went on to win the outstanding achievement award in 2012.

Other outstanding achievement award winners over the years include Peter Hall, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Helen Mirren, Richard Attenborough, JK Rowling, the Who, Judi Dench, Julie Walters, Tracey Emin and last year’s winner, Sylvie Guillem.

The awards will be shown on Sky Arts on 8 June. A full list of this year’s nominations is below.

Classical music

Stephen Hough International Piano Series: Debussy and Chopin, Royal Festival Hall
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra: Andris Nelsons’ Farewell Concert, Symphony Hall
Mark Simpson: The Immortal

Literature

Sarah Hall: The Wolf Border
Sunjeev Sahota: The Year of the Runaways
Tessa Hadley: The Past

Theatre

Oresteia, Almeida Theatre
People, Places & Things, National Theatre and Headlong
Hangmen, Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre

Pop

Benjamin Clementine: At Least for Now
Years & Years: Communion
Sleaford Mods: Key Markets

Comedy

Catastrophe, Channel 4
Peter Kay’s Car Share, BBC1
Chewing Gum, E4

TV drama

Wolf Hall, BBC 2
Humans, Channel 4
Doctor Foster, BBC 1

Opera

Krόl Roger, Royal Opera House
Saul, Glyndebourne
Force of Destiny, English National Opera

Visual art

Cornelia Parker: Magna Carta (An Embroidery), British Library
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Verses After Dusk, Serpentine Gallery
Banksy: Dismaland Bemusement Park

Film

Ex Machina
45 Years
Brooklyn

Dance