Conor O'Brien has won best album at the 2016 Ivor Novello Awards for Villagers' Darling Arithmetic. The album was chosen over In Colour by Jamie XX and Matador by Gaz Coombes.
This is not O'Brien's first Novello. He previously won best song for Becoming A Jackal, the title track of his debut album.
The Ivor Novello awards are the most prestigious for songwriting in the UK and Ireland.
Speaking at the event, Snow Patrol's Jonny Quinn also took the opportunity to call on the British government to provide tax breaks to help young artists break into the music industry. "The traditional model is not the way to do it any more and the industry needs a lot more investment from the Government. [It] needs tax breaks for young people to get in because streams are not quite filling the gap of CD sales."
The Northern Irishman also made a plea for funding for “smaller indie labels, grassroots, and more arts funding generally.”
Among the other winners announced were Adele for Songwriter of the Year for her third album 25, James Bay for his song Hold Back The River, and The Happy Mondays for "inspiring the creative talent of others". The event was hosted by Paul Gambaccini.
