Five composers receive £75,000 each in Paul Hamlyn Foundation awards
Olivia Chaney, Bushra El-Turk, Charlotte Keeffe, Daudi Matsiko and Ayanna Witter-Johnson have each received £75,000 through the Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s 2026 Awards for Artists, with no restrictions on how they use the funding.
Announced in London on 4 November, the awards give composers financial support to develop their ideas and address the pressures affecting their creative work. The five recipients span folk, contemporary classical music, jazz and improvisation.
Composer, singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Olivia Chaney draws on folk traditions, while British-Ugandan singer-songwriter and guitarist Daudi Matsiko works within contemporary folk.
Bushra El-Turk brings together musical traditions rooted in her Lebanese heritage, creating works that challenge societal norms and give space to unheard stories. Charlotte Keeffe, a composer, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader and improvising trumpeter, explores the relationship between composition, improvisation and sonic experimentation.
Composer, singer and cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson combines classical composition, jazz improvisation and Afro-diasporic musical traditions.
Kevin Le Gendre, writer, broadcaster and journalist, who chaired the composers judging panel, said, ‘There is often a barrier to who has the chance to become a composer and who doesn’t.’
He said the unrestricted nature of the awards was intended to help overcome barriers and encourage diversity, originality and creative risk.
Now in its 32nd year, Awards for Artists supports composers and visual artists at significant points in their careers. Recipients are nominated by peers, with final decisions made by judging panels whose membership changes annually.
Five visual artists also received awards this year, bringing the total funding to £750,000. Over the preceding 31 years, the programme awarded £12.79 million to 377 artists across the UK.