Jacob Alon Wins Two 2026 Ivor Novello Awards
jacob alon won two awards at the 2026 Ivor Novello awards, taking rising star and best song musically and lyrically for Don't Fall Asleep. The Scottish singer-songwriter was the night’s big winner, a quick jump from debut-album buzz to a major songwriting prize haul.
Don’t Fall Asleep and In Limerence
Alon’s best song win went to Don't Fall Asleep, a track they described as: “This song, to me, floats across the stormy surface of the sea of dreams, gasping against its choppy tide, resisting the soft pull below into an endless deep”. The judges called it “profoundly emotionally honest”, and that language fits a song that has now moved from personal statement to industry recognition.
May 2025 brought the debut album In Limerence, which had already been nominated for the 2025 Mercury prize before these Ivor Novello results. A debut that reaches that shortlist and then converts into two major songwriting awards in the same span is the kind of run labels, publishers and managers watch closely.
Sam Fender and Rosalía
Sam Fender was named songwriter of the year at the 2026 Ivor Novello awards, while Rosalía won international songwriter of the year. CMAT took best album for Euro-Country, giving the ceremony a spread of winners across British and international songwriting rather than one dominant camp.
Kae Tempest won best contemporary song for I Stand on the Line, with judges calling it “too often unheard”. Lola Young won the award for most performed work for Messy, a title that points to the song’s reach beyond critical circles and into repeated public use.
Craft Wins Across Film and TV
Tom Hodge won best original film score for Testimony, while David Holmes and Brian Irvine won best television soundtrack for the Belfast-set drama Trespasses. Those categories kept the focus on composition as a working part of the screen business, not just a side lane to the record side of the room.
The Fellowship of the Ivors Academy went to George Michael and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, placing two widely established names alongside a younger winner whose first album arrived only in May 2025. For Alon, the practical takeaway is blunt: the industry has moved from noticing the debut to rewarding the writing, and that usually changes who gets heard next.
