News

Q Magazine Celebrates 25 Years of the Q Awards

• 6th Aug 2014

Q Magazine have announced that Absolute Radio’s Christian O’Connell will host the Xperia Access Q Awards. The appointment of the Breakfast Show presenter marks an incredible 25 years of the most prestigious awards ceremony in the UK music calendar.

The Xperia Access Q Awards will take place on 22 October 2014 and voting for the seven reader-voted categories is now open at Qthemusic.com, where Q website users will get to decide the outcome in each of the following categories:

– Best New Act presented by Xperia Access
– Best Track presented by Absolute Radio
– Best Video
– Best Album
– Best Live Act presented by The Cavern Club
– Best Solo Artist presented by Citroen
– Best Act In The World Today

Xperia Access Q Awards host Christian O’Connell is no stranger to awards himself, holding the record for most Radio Academy Award wins of any radio presenter in the UK and having won critical acclaim with his debut stand-up show at the Edinburgh Festival last year. Christian said: “The same time as the Q Awards last year I was hosting my kids’ unruly end-of-term school disco and they trashed the place. This gig will be easier.”

Q Awards Senior Event Producer Marguerite Peck said, “We were knocked out by his stand-up show and wanted him to host the awards. A big show demands a big personality host and that’s Christian – a man who knows his music.”

Some of the most sought-after awards in music and a must-attend event for artists and industry alike, the Q Awards started in 1990 and featured only eight awards, with winners including The Rolling Stones, Prince, U2 and Paul McCartney. Over the years the event may have grown and the music industry changed, but the quality of acts at the Q Awards never falters. Last year, the Arctic Monkeys won Best Track for Do I Wanna Know?, Biffy Clyro picked up the Award for Best Album and Jake Bugg was voted Best New Act. A galaxy of stars also attended the event, including Vampire Weekend, Robbie Williams, Foals, Suede, Dizzee Rascal, Ellie Goulding and The Pet Shop Boys.

Matt Mason, Senior Editor of Q Magazine says, “Despite recent stories predicting everything from the death of the album to the demise of the arena band, we believe music is as exciting and vital as it’s ever been – whatever format it comes in. There has been an abundance of excellent records and performances from new and established artists this year and I firmly expect the Q Awards voting to reflect the breadth of great music out there and the passion it still inspires in people.”

The Xperia Access Q Awards Nominations will be announced on Tuesday 9 September.

The Xperia Access Q Awards take place on Wednesday 22 October.