The winners of The Ivors Classical Awards 2025 have been announced — you can see the full list of winners below.
The ceremony, which was supported by PRS for Music and celebrates outstanding new compositions by British, Irish and UK resident composers, took place last night (11 November) at BFI Southbank in London.
Three special Gift of the Academy Awards were among those to be presented, with the honours going to Anne Dudley, Anoushka Shankar and Debbie Wiseman. Anne was inducted into Academy Fellowship, becoming the 33rd Fellow of The Ivors Academy, while Anoushka was presented with the Innovation Award in recognition of her boundary-pushing work.
Debbie, meanwhile, became the inaugural recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Screen Composition award, recognising her ‘extraordinary body of work across film and television’.
Eight more composers and librettists were recognised last night across six categories, with Ivor Novello Awards going to composers Anibal Vidal, Anna Clyne, Helen Grime, Jonathan Dove, Luke Mombrea and Nneka Cummins, as well as librettists April De Angelis and Zoe Gilbert.
A jury of 30 composer judges from The Ivors Academy considered over 220 works which were entered for this year’s Awards, resulting in 29 nominated works in the shortlist. The six categories were then judged anonymously, with all identifying information removed from materials seen by the judges.
Roberto Neri, CEO of The Ivors Academy, said in a statement: ‘The Ivors Classical Awards celebrate the art and importance of composition in all its forms, honouring the imagination, skill and dedication that go into creating new music. Each Ivor Novello Award is a unique moment of peer recognition for the most important people in music — its composers. Tonight shows why it’s essential that composers are supported, valued and fairly rewarded for their work.’
Andrea Czapary Martin, CEO, PRS for Music, added: ‘Congratulations to this year’s Ivor Novello Classical Award winners — your achievements speak to the range and vitality of composition across the UK. To every nominee, being shortlisted for an Ivor is a milestone in itself and a testament to the strength of your work.
‘Tonight’s winners are pushing the art form forward with boldness and brilliance, bringing new audiences to contemporary music. PRS for Music is proud to stand with The Ivors Academy in championing outstanding composers, and to ensure creators are recognised and fairly rewarded whenever their works are performed and enjoyed.’
You can see the full winners’ list below.
Academy Fellowship
Anne Dudley
Innovation Award in association with the Musicians’ Union
Anoushka Shankar
Outstanding Contribution to Screen Composition
Debbie Wiseman
Best Chamber Ensemble Composition
Invocación n.2: A Kintsugi Resurrection composed by Anibal Vidal
Best Choral Composition
Orbits composed by Anna Clyne
Best Community and Participation Composition in association with ABRSM
Uprising composed by Jonathan Dove with libretto by April De Angelis
Best Large Ensemble Composition
finding gills [when they try to drown you] composed by Nneka Cummins
Best Orchestral Composition in association with Dorico
Folk composed by Helen Grime with libretto by Zoe Gilbert
Best Small Chamber Composition
Black Gold composed by Luke Mombrea
The Ivors Classical Awards 2025 will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds on Saturday (15 November) in a special edition of the New Music Show.
