| Q Awards | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Excellence in music |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Presented by | Q |
| First awarded | 1990 |
| Last awarded | 2019 |
| Website | Qthemusic.com |
The Q Awards were the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine Q. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards became one of Britain's biggest and best publicised music awards. Locations for the awards ceremony included Abbey Road Studios and near the end of its life, The Park Lane Ballroom.
One of the more notable events of the awards was the ceremony of 2004, at which Elton John accused Madonna of cheating fans by miming on stage, after she had been nominated for a Best Live Act award.[1] The 2001 event, was somewhat notoriously notable for Phill Jupitus stretching out the time it took to announce the "Best Producer" award, with him exclaiming "Best Producer?.... 'Would you like a cowbell in that?'", before being told off camera to get on with announcing the winner.
The Q Awards included many awards recognising a lifetime of achievement, rather than achievements over the year in question. In its last few years, the 'lifetime' awards have usually outnumbered the 'current' awards.
The awards came to an end when the magazine itself ceased publishing in 2020, blaming the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 awards ceremony would have been held at the Roundhouse and seen a performance by Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott.[2] When it was announced that the magazine was closing, Heaton was revealed to have donated a substantial amount of money to the magazine's former staff members.[2] As thanks, and for his contributions to music as a songwriter, Heaton was presented with a final Q Award.[2]