“Battle For Britain“
The BBC has revealed the shortlist for British Artist of the Year in the inaugural BBC Music Awards.
The winners, as voted for by a BBC Music panel as well as leading music journalists, will be announced at the event being held at London’s Earl’s Court on Thursday December 11.
The shortlist was selected from the most played British artists of the year on BBC radio.
The nominees (in alphabetical order) for British Artist of the Year are:
David Bowie
Ed Sheeran
Elbow
Jungle
Royal Blood
Sam Smith
Hosted by Chris Evans and Fearne Cotton, the awards show will take place in front of a live audience of 13,500 and will be broadcast to millions more across the country as all the action is broadcast on BBC One, Radio 1, Radio 2 and at bbc.co.uk/music.
This will be one of the last events at Earl’s Court before the demolition of the historic Art deco London venue, which hosted shows by David Bowie in 1973 and 1978.
According to The Telegraph, the awards were launched as a rival to the Brits, and billed as the music version of Sports Personality of the Year, but there are only three categories: British Artist of the Year, International Artist of the Year and Song of the Year.