Coldplay, Duffy lead Ivor Novello 2009 nods

The Leisure Society's Nick Hemming on the uke
The Leisure Society's Nick Hemming on the uke

The nominations for 2009's Ivor Novello Awards (a celebration of British songwriting rather than performance) have been announced.

Coldplay and Duffy lead the way with three nods each, closely followed by Elbow and The Ting Tings with two each.

The surprise of the picks, however, is a relatively unknown band called The Leisure Society. They - or more precisely Nick Hemming (chief songwriter) - are up against Elbow's One Day Like This and The Last Shadow Puppets' My Mistakes Were Made For You for Best Song (musically and Lyrically).

The underdog

Nick Hemming is a 35-year-old warehouse worker and self-published songwriter. And because he's the underdog (and who doesn't like an underdog?) here's the video for The Leisure Society's nominated tear-jerker The Last Of The Melting Snow.

The rest of the nods (including one for Johnny Greenwood's There Will Be Blood film score) are after the jump…

Check out The Ivors' official site for a full list of all songwriters involved. Some (like Gabriella Cilmi's Sweet About Me) have rather a lot…

Best song musically and lyrically
My Mistakes Were Made For You - The Last Shadow Puppets
One Day Like This - Elbow
The Last Of The Melting Snow - The Leisure Society

Best contemporary song
Dance Wiv Me Dizzee Rascal ft Calvin Harris
Grounds For Divorce - Elbow
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings

Best original film score
Quantum of Solace - David Arnold
The Escapist - Benjamin Wallfisch
There Will Be Blood - Jonny Greenwood

Best television soundtrack
Fiona's Story - Ben Bartlett
Trial and Retribution 2008 - Anne Dudley
Wallace and Gromit (A Matter of Loaf and Death) - Julian Nott

PRS for most performed work
Mercy - Duffy
Sweet About Me - Gabriella Cilmi
Viva La Vida - Coldplay

Best selling British song
Mercy - Duffy
Paper Planes - M.I.A
Viva La Vida - Coldplay

Album award
Rockferry - Duffy
Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay
We Started Nothing - The Ting Tings

The 54th Ivor Novello Awards will take place on Thursday 21st May 2009.

Tom Porter worked on MusicRadar from its mid-2007 launch date to 2011, covering a range of music and music making topics, across features, gear news, reviews, interviews and more. A regular NAMM-goer back in the day, Tom now resides permanently in Los Angeles, where he's doing rather well at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).