LIVE Awards 2025

08 July 2025 - Press release

Category Nominations Now Open 

Tom Ward is the new host of the LIVE Awards 2025

 

The annual LIVE Awards, which will take place on Wednesday December 10^th at Troxy in East London, has announced a new host for 2025.

Tom Ward is an award-winning comedian from London, who has appeared on ‘Live at The Apollo’, ‘Live from The BBC’, 'QI', ‘Roast Battle’ , ‘Stand up Central’, ‘Live From The Comedy Store’ (Comedy Central) and twice on 'The Stand Up Sketch Show' (ITV2)

Winning the prestigious Chortle Best Newcomer award in 2017, he has since gone on to perform five Edinburgh shows and catch the attention of some of the biggest names in UK comedy - Ricky Gervais, Jack Whitehall and Joe Lycett - who have all used him as their tour support.

Gaby Cartwright, Head of Partnerships, LIVE & The LIVE Awards said, “We’re really excited to have Tom Ward hosting this year’s LIVE Awards. He’s smart, funny, and completely tuned into the world of music, which is exactly the kind of energy we want for a night that celebrates the best of our industry.” 

Nominations are also now open for the LIVE Awards 2025. This year there will be 15 categories including a brand-new award for “Backstage Brilliance,” which is sponsored by Sound Advice. This award recognises an individual, team, venue, festival, or tour that goes above and beyond in creating an exceptional backstage experience for artists and crew. Whether it’s through standout spaces, thoughtful services, or wellbeing-focused initiatives, this award honours those setting the gold standard in backstage excellence. Sound Advice has been delivering Private & Corporate shows since the early 80’s but delivering great artist hospitality has always been hugely important for the company.   

Sound Advice Director Hugh Phillimore said, “Private and corporate events offer something special, and we’ve always felt it’s vital to create a calm, welcoming backstage space for the artist. My philosophy is simple: let the artists focus on the performance, and we’ll take care of the hospitality. When someone takes the time to look after them properly, it makes all the difference. That’s why Sound Advice are proud to sponsor this new category for the LIVE Awards 2025 – celebrating those who go the extra mile to enhance the backstage experience.”

 

The full list of categories is as follows and nominations are now open and the deadline for submissions is 10th October:

The LIVE Green Award
The LIVE Workforce Award
Venue of the Year
Grassroots Champion
Booking Agency of the Year (x2 categories)
Top Ticketing Service
National Promoter of the Year
Regional Promoter of the Year
Major Festival of the Year 
Festival of the Year
Road Warrior of the Year
Production Supplier 
Backstage Brilliance Award 
The LIVEtime Achievement Award

Full details on how to nominate can be found here

Gaby Cartwright, Head of Partnerships, LIVE & The LIVE Awards said, “The LIVE Awards are the one night of the year when the entire live music community comes together to celebrate the often-unseen dedication and relentless passion that keep the industry alive. It’s a rare chance to recognise the creativity and resilience behind the scenes, share in our collective achievements, and connect as a united community before we head into the year ahead.”

Jon Collins, CEO of LIVE said, “the LIVE Awards have gone from strength to strength since we launched them in 2022, and for good reason; bringing together people from across the live music sector in such a warm , celebratory environment is a fantastic way to remind ourselves how privileged we all are to work in such a dynamic, successful and culturally important industry.”

Tables and individual seats for the LIVE Awards 2025 are now available here and include a welcome drinks reception, dinner with wine and petit fours, two hours of complimentary drinks, and an afterparty that goes on into the early hours.

As LIVE’s primary annual fundraising event, all proceeds from the awards will go towards directly supporting  our ongoing work engaging government on a range of sector critical issues and will help support our members to meet their sustainability goals while fostering a more diverse, equitable and inclusive working environment (more info here)

Full information about The LIVE Awards 2025 can be found here.

A limited amount of sponsorship opportunities are also available for this year’s LIVE Awards and interested parties should contact Gaby Cartwright on Gaby@livemusic.bizfor more information.