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THE IVO RS ACA DE MY HON OURS 2026

THE IVORS ACADEMY HONOURS CELEBRATE THE ADVOCATES AND INNOVATORS WHO CHAMPION SONGWRITERS AND COMPOSERS, CREATING A STRONGER, FAIRER AND MORE INCLUSIVE MUSIC INDUSTRY.

PRESENTED BY THE IVORS ACADEMY

Photo: Kenny McCracken

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TOM GRAY

WELCOME Welcome to The Ivors Academy Honours 2026.

Or someone using their influence, experience or resources to help others succeed.

Tonight is about celebrating champions of music creators: extraordinary individuals who have used their influence and determination to make a positive difference.

Every form of support is welcome and necessary. That is reflected in the extraordinary roll call of people we honour tonight: James Blake, Emily Eavis, Victor Finn, Annie Macmanus, Chris Meehan, MNEK and Stormzy.

Our community faces serious threats and pressures - from the rapid development of generative AI and pressure on rights and earnings, to unfair commissioning practices, bullying, harassment and abuse, and unequal access to opportunities for those without established networks or connections. There is much more to do to make music inclusive and ensure creative work - and the people behind it are properly recognised, respected and valued.

They join previous honourees including Elton John, RAYE, Kae Tempest, Richard Branson, Kanya King, Jon Platt, Carla Marie-Williams and Chris Bryant. They have made their impact in different ways, but share a willingness to use their position to help others and create positive change.

Progress depends on people being prepared to speak out and act. And that championing can take many forms.

Tonight, we also remember Kanya King, who we were proud to honour at this event last year. Kanya changed British music. Through MOBO, she created a platform that championed and elevated talent too often overlooked by the mainstream. Her passing this year was an enormous loss to music and to all those whose careers and lives she touched.

It can mean an artist using their platform to demand better for creators. An entrepreneur creating new opportunities. A campaigner challenging established ways of working. 4

Photo: Louise Haywood-Schiefer

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LORD NERI

In November, our first Composer Week will put composition centre stage. Our Composer Summit will bring composers and the industry together to share knowledge and tackle the issues affecting their careers. And The Ivors Composer Awards will celebrate outstanding composition across all genres and disciplines.

The responsibility to champion music creators also belongs to The Ivors Academy. It’s what we do every day. Over the past year, the collective voice of our growing global membership has given us greater influence to deliver practical change. We have campaigned for stronger protections around AI and creators’ rights, fairer pay and working conditions, and proper recognition and credit.

It’s what we exist to do: protect, empower and celebrate all songwriters and composers. We would like to thank the sponsors who make The Ivors Academy Honours possible: Believe Music Publishing, IMRO, MCPS, Meta, PPL, PRS for Music, SESAC Performing Rights, TikTok and YouTube Music. We are enormously grateful for your commitment.

We have championed Basic Income for the Arts - giving creators greater financial stability and the freedom to develop their work. We secured per diems plus expenses for songwriters attending writing sessions with UK major label groups and are pushing for these dignity payments to be adopted more widely.

Lasting change needs resolute champions. To all our honourees: thank you for being among them. And thank you all for joining us to celebrate them.

And we have launched new commissioning guidelines with the BBC, establishing clearer and fairer standards around rights, royalties, contracts and generative AI for media composers.

Tom Gray Chair of The Ivors Academy Lord Neri CEO of The Ivors Academy 5

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JAMES BLAKE

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“HIS GROUNDBREAKING APPROACH HAS HELPED OPEN UP THE INDUSTRY TO NEW WAYS OF WORKING.” (including an Ivor Novello Award in 2014 and Grammys in 2019 and 2024) and appearances on huge soundtracks. But, having partnered with a range of platforms including Indify (fund-raising), Vault (direct-to-fan communication), Bside (ticketing) and others, he has combined that success with greater autonomy and control over his career. That, he says, has boosted his own creativity while - crucially - showing other musicians that there is an alternative.

Over the last two decades, James Blake has proved himself to be the most versatile of artists; mastering different genres, collaborating with a huge range of musicians and finding ways to blend creative achievement, critical acclaim and commercial success. And, in more recent years, he has brought that same flexibility to the way he conducts his business. And - just as his music has influenced a generation of musicians - so his ground-breaking approach to realising the value of his and others’ creativity has helped open up the industry to new ways of working with the artists it is built upon.

“Part of my drive is to remind artists that they are the boss of their business,” he said last year, and that commitment and determination has proved crucial in helping others challenge the way things work for artists and songwriters. Just as significantly, his powerful voice has inspired some in the industry to face up to their responsibilities and adapt more equitable systems.

He’s not, of course, the only artist to realise the way money generated by songwriting and recorded music is too often diverted away from its creators; to identify how access to an artist’s fanbase is often controlled and limited by third parties; or to question the lack of choice when it comes to different ways of touring.

There remains a long way to go, of course. Social media algorithms, entrenched live sector working practices and what James calls “contract-based injustice” are opponents that need to be worn down rather than defeated overnight.

But he is one of the few to turn his principles into action and, since quitting his old deals and embracing new models, James has blazed a trail for artists who want to - quite literally - do it themselves.

But you can be sure that, whatever challenges come his way, James Blake will find a way to win – both for himself, and for those who follow him through those newly opened doors.

James was hugely successful under the traditional system, with numerous hit albums, award wins 7

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Photo: Emma Hardy

EMILY EAVIS

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“EMILY CURATES AN EVENT THAT OFFERS UNPARALLELED OPPORTUNITIES TO SONGWRITERS FROM EVERY POSSIBLE GENRE.” Whatever else happens, 2027 will be a very special year for music because, in June, the world’s most beloved live event - Glastonbury Festival - will return.

there can barely be a breakthrough artist that doesn’t owe at least some of their success to a show at Glastonbury. And that support follows artists and songwriters through every stage of their career, backing talent from the grassroots all the way to the “legends” slot on Sunday afternoon. Not for nothing did Elton John, one of the world’s greatest songwriters, choose Glastonbury for his farewell performance in 2023.

Its absence from the long, hot summer of 2026, while on its traditional “fallow year”, could not be filled, even by one of the busiest, buzziest live music seasons in recent memory. Because nothing can match the sheer, magnetic pull of Worthy Farm. And the driving force behind the festival’s indefinable aura is Emily Eavis. Emily curates an event that appeals across generational and musical boundaries, and offers unparalleled opportunities to songwriters from every possible genre and demographic.

We don’t yet know who will be gracing the Pyramid Stage in 2027, although we do know that the biggest artists in the world queue up to play there. But Emily works every bit as hard on the rest of the bill, ensuring Glastonbury’s unique platform is extended to as many ground-breaking, envelope-pushing artists as time and space will allow. She has helped the festival to adapt to every change in the musical landscape, every shift in audience habits, every meteorological challenge.

Those artists - and there are around 3,000 performances across the creative arts at a typical Glastonbury - get to play to a huge, appreciative audience in the hallowed Worthy Farm fields, of course. But Emily has nurtured an event with a cultural impact that resonates far beyond Worthy Farm’s legendary ley lines, with the BBC’s superb TV coverage and immense media interest creating a unique showcase for artists, whether they’re veterans of the scene or just starting out.

And that’s why - as anticipation for the festival’s return reaches fever pitch - we may not know which artists will get their moment in the 2027 Glastonbury sun/torrential rain. But we do know that, thanks to Emily Eavis, the 2027 UK music scene will emerge from the weekend stronger, brighter and culturally richer for the experience whatever the weather.

Think of all the Glastonbury moments Emily has engineered over the years. She’s a relentless champion of fresh talent, to the point that 9

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VICTOR FINN

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“THERE HAS SURELY NEVER BEEN A GREATER ADVOCATE FOR IRISH HITMAKERS AND COMPOSERS THAN VICTOR FINN.” Songwriters need champions, and there has surely never been a greater advocate for Irish hitmakers and composers than Victor Finn.

But this business is never just about the money. In a constantly changing environment, creators’ rights remain under threat from everything from new technology to bad actors. And Victor has thrown his support behind a range of panEuropean initiatives, including the European Grouping of Societies & Composers (GESAC) efforts around new copyright policies, that have helped IMRO make an impact over the Irish Sea and beyond, as well as at home.

Victor has led the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) since 2008. And in those 18 years, not only has the music industry completely changed the way it does business (2008 was way before TikTok or even streaming took hold, remember), but Victor has also transformed the company, firmly putting IMRO on the map of leading European collection societies.

And, as Irish talent has found its voice, so IMRO has helped to amplify it. Victor approved The Ivors Academy’s groundbreaking agreement with IMRO, when the Academy launched in Ireland, its first formal presence outside the UK in over 80 years. It’s a natural step, given the Academy’s long-time love of, and support for, Irish music, and will unlock the sort of new opportunities for Irish songwriters that Victor has always sought.

A former MD of the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society Of Ireland, and a one-time chartered management accountant, under his inspirational leadership, IMRO’s membership has quadrupled to more than 30,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. Both royalty collections and distributions have hit record highs. Of course, Irish music has been booming, with seemingly every week throwing up another hugely talented band or artist, ready-made for success at home and abroad. But, along with the critical acclaim, Victor’s transformation of IMRO has ensured the new generation of Irish talent indeed, every generation of Irish talent - now has access to a robust and efficient royalty collection system, bringing in the funds needed to ensure the current explosion continues long after the initial shockwaves dissipate.

Someone else will soon have to take up that mantle, with Victor due to retire later this year. But - with everything set up to ensure the burgeoning Irish music economy continues to thrive for many years to come - what a legacy the mighty Finn will leave behind.

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ANNIE MACMANUS

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“ANNIE IS AN OLDSCHOOL MUSICAL ENTHUSIAST WHO EFFORTLESSLY SPEAKS THE LANGUAGE OF THE NEW GENERATION.” Like all good DJs, Annie Macmanus - previously better known to millions of listeners as Annie Mac - knows how to talk. But it’s what she does with that voice that really marks her out as special.

artists she loves in a truly unfiltered way, without compromise or interference from middlemen. Festivals, club nights, business conferences, podcasts, compilations and more are all within her remit as she looks to transform the industry for the better.

In her 17 years at the cultural institution that is BBC Radio 1, Annie built a formidable reputation as a new music champion, tirelessly introducing new artist after new artist - with a particular emphasis on female and LGBTQIA+ voices - to the audience that would turn them into superstars.

“We don’t have enough female headliners, we don’t have enough female-fronted bands, or female bands, we don’t have enough female headline DJs,” she declared at the dawn of the new decade and, while some progress has been made, it’s a battle Annie is still prepared to fight.

But wherever she broadcasts, she is always essential listening. Immersed in dance culture, but always alive to the possibilities of other genres, Annie is an old-school musical enthusiast who effortlessly speaks the language of the new generation. At Radio 1, where she hosted a number of shows including the tastemaking touchstone that was Future Sounds, she supercharged music discovery for an army of listeners and contributed hugely to many of the 21st century’s biggest breakthroughs, seemingly without breaking a sweat.

You can feel it in her writing and her inspirational podcasts, Sidetracked (with her erstwhile Radio 1 colleague Nick Grimshaw), and Changes With Annie Macmanus, which sees artists, writers, musicians and other creative people talk about all aspects of change in their lives, both the good and the not-so-good.

She stepped down from Radio 1 in 2021. But her advocacy and enthusiasm - which always came across so clearly on air - did not end there. Under her AMP (Annie Mac Presents) banner, she has built an independent empire that allows her to curate and promote the songwriters and

And, most of all, you can hear it in that wonderfully recognisable voice of hers, every time she steps up to the mic and talks sense to the world. Long may she communicate.

You can see it in her willingness to accept the role of spokesperson for a generation that wants to see the music industry rapidly embrace greater equality and representation.

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CHRIS MEEHAN

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“CHRIS PASSIONATELY BELIEVES THAT SONGWRITING SHOULD NOT BE THE PRESERVE OF THE PRIVILEGED.” Music publishing is a wonderful place, but not one that’s necessarily easy to navigate for those not to the manor born. But one man has made it his mission to change that - Believe Publishing CEO Chris Meehan.

their way. This proved particularly effective in the world of live performance, where Chris streamlined access to the UK gigs and clubs scheme and made sure thousands of musicians received live royalties for the first time.

Chris started Sentric Publishing in 2006 as a final year project, while studying the music industry at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). But this was not one of those projects that was binned the minute the marks were awarded: over the coming years, he built Sentric into one of the most successful and respected publishing operations in the world.

It’s impossible to quantify exactly what such measures meant for the many beneficiaries but, in a world where it’s never been harder to earn a living as a songwriter - especially when you’re starting out - you can bet it’s made the difference between carrying on and quitting for many future hitmakers. Chris is a strong advocate for data clarity and music industry education, helping to demystify a complex sector and priming generations of songwriters with the information they need to negotiate systems not always set up as creator-friendly.

Throughout that journey, he was guided by the principles installed in the business at the very beginning. Chris passionately believes that songwriting should not be the preserve of the privileged, and he put strategies in place to make sure that every songwriter who entrusted Sentric with their work was represented with the same energy, and rewarded with the same forensic attention to detail. No wonder over 600,000 songwriters and many of the world’s leading independent publishing companies now partner with his company.

He has built his school project into a huge business - now overseeing Believe Music Publishing and TuneCore Publishing as well as Sentric - but, remarkably, remains the same approachable executive, perpetually downto earth and happy-to-help, whether you’re a superstar or on your way.

He has also brought transparency to the famously opaque world of royalty collection, giving songwriters access to the tools they need to make sure every penny due is funnelled

That’s why industry and creatives alike hail him as an ally and collaborator. That’s why no Ivors Academy Honour recipient could be more deserving. And that’s why, if you’re looking to find your way through the music publishing jungle, Chris Meehan is your perfect guide. 15

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Photo: Lewis Vorn

MNEK

THE IVO RS ACA DE MY HON OURS 2026

“AS A PASSIONATE ADVOCATE MNEK HAS LONG PUSHED FOR THE INDUSTRY TO SUPPORT QUEER TALENT.” As a singer, songwriter and producer, Uzoechi Emenike - now much better known as MNEK - has never been afraid to make an impact.

MNEK thrives on community. That’s why he’s been able to build long-standing relationships with top artistic talent, and why he’s so in demand as a collaborator. But, rather than pull up the drawbridge behind him when those opportunities arrive, he always looks to empower and educate fresh talent.

His storied career has seen him work on classic songs across multiple genres, collaborate with stars from The Saturdays to Beyoncé and helm complete projects for the likes of Zara Larsson and FLO.

After all, he remembers when he first came into the industry, having to get his head around obscure music industry working practices and adjust to different working environments - and he wants to help others avoid the same pitfalls.

He is a master at distilling vision and ideas into unstoppable pop anthems, helping multiple artists break through. But his influence extends far beyond the studio.

This richly deserved Ivors Academy Honours award coincides with MNEK’s return to artist life, having spent years behind the scenes, if scarcely under the radar. His new album, the not-so-subtly titled BULLDOZER!!, is his first since 2018 and reintroduces a unique talent that refuses to be pigeon-holed to a single discipline or genre.

As a passionate advocate for LGBTQIA+ songwriters and artists, he has long pushed for the industry to support queer talent. Over multiple editions, his Proud Sound initiative, a collaboration with the likes of Warner Chappell Music and Spotify Glow, organises songwriting camps for LGBTQIA+ writers throughout Pride Month. The initiative gives writers access to top talent and allows them to build their network and industry connections, in turn leading to more opportunities and successes.

But, even if the project makes him as famous to the public as some of the big-name artists he works with, you know that MNEK will never be happy unless he’s also lifting up others, whether that’s musically, spiritually or commercially.

That chimes with MNEK’s personal mission to “make the industry more exciting through the many colourful voices” attending the camp, as he taps into a range of authentic voices not always given a fair hearing across the business.

So, while some songwriters are happy to keep their heads down, MNEK will remain in the world’s face, in order to make it a better place.

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Photo: Adama Jalloh

STORMZY

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“IT’S HIS WILLINGNESS TO GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITIES THAT HELPED ELEVATE HIM THAT MARKS STORMZY OUT AS TRULY SPECIAL.” Maybe once in a generation, a new musician will arrive and first reshape, then redefine British culture. In the 21st century, Stormzy is that figure.

And he operates that mission from a broad base, helping with initiatives in education (supporting “Stormzy scholars” at the prestigious University of Cambridge); health (pledging half a million quid to The Black Heart Foundation’s ‘Each Day Every Day’ campaign); the media (backing the #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize for young, under-represented, unpublished writing talent), and sport (backing the #Merky FC programme that sought to increase the representation of black people in the football industry).

The clarity of his musical vision, combined with the authenticity of his lyrics, has helped take UK rap to new heights. But his influence does not stop in the upper reaches of the UK Top 40, it has extended into multiple facets of British public life. The man behind such irrepressible hits as Vossi Bop, Shut Up and Big For Your Boots is a thoughtful presence, and has always used his success to help others and grant them access to the same opportunities he has grasped with both hands.

It’s this willingness to give back to the communities that helped elevate him in the first place that marks Stormzy out as truly special. Combine that with the example set by his musical achievements, and the inspiration that comes from his determination to level up openings for everyone, and it’s no wonder that Stormzy has taken his unique style everywhere from the BRIT Awards to Glastonbury Festival, and seen him win Ivor Novello Awards, MOBOs and even GQ Man of the Year Awards.

His #Merky Foundation, set up in 2019, looks to “elevate, support and amplify the issues and the voices of the black community”. And it has backed up those fine words with £10 million in hard cash over 10 years, greenlighting multiple projects aimed at promoting racial equality, justice reform and black empowerment.

And where Stormzy goes, rest assured, others will follow.

He does not mince his words when it comes to the task in hand, declaring: “We have to fight against the odds of a racist system stacked against us, and designed for us to fail from before we are even born. Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long, and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it.” 19

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THE IVORS ACADEMY WISHES TO THANK Edith Bowman our host This year’s award presenters and performers Eclipse Global for the stage production Gene O’Connell and Mark Richards for stage and production management Steam Motion and Sound for the video production Adapt or Die for our design Gaudio Awards for our award design and manufacture Dave Benett Agency for our official photography Grey Moth for our official videography Joanne Viner for the programme production Mark Sutherland for writing our printed award profiles Full Spectrum Print Media for our printing Maria Barham and DawBell for our PR Wendy Alders and Laura Olewnik at the InterContinental London Park Lane The Ivors Academy team

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The Ivors and Euterpe (The Ivors Statuette, designed in 1955 by Hazel Underwood) are trademarks belonging to the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, trading as The Ivors Academy. Persons wishing to reproduce or use these marks must secure the written consent of The Ivors Academy prior to use. Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this publication, The Ivors Academy cannot be liable for errors or omissions. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of The Ivors Academy.

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ORDER OF PRESENTATION DINNER 7.00pm • AWARDS CEREMONY 8.50pm James Blake Emily Eavis Victor Finn Annie Macmanus Chris Meehan MNEK Stormzy • AFTER PARTY 10.30pm • DEPARTURES 1.30am

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