Stormzy wins Video of the Year at UK MVAs 2019

The grime MC picked up the top spot at this year’s ceremony, while FKA twigs’ Cellophane video snapped up four awards and Michel Gondry was honoured for his contributions to the artform throughout his career

2019 has been a triumphant year for grime, reaching a climax with Stormzy’s politically-charged headline performance at Glastonbury. It seems fitting then that the grime king has been crowned the overall winner at this year’s UK Music Video Awards for his summer single Vossi Bop, which also won Best Urban Video. The video was directed by Henry Scholfield, who was also awarded Best Director this year.

FKA twigs racked up the most awards over the course of the evening, which was celebrated at The Roundhouse in Camden. While twigs has released several videos this year, it was the resplendent visuals for Cellophane – directed by Andrew Thomas Huang – that won her four awards. The video picked up Best UK Alternative Video, and technical categories including Cinematography, Editing and Visual Effects, while twigs herself was also named Best Artist.

Barns Courtney’s video for You And I was awarded the prize for Best Pop Video, while Sam Fender’s Dead Boys won Best Rock Video and Beardyman ft. Joe Rogan won the Dance category for 6am (Ready To Write). Elsewhere, Thom Yorke’s dystopian short film for ANIMA was awarded Best Choreography, which was led by Damien Jalet.

Best Production Company was handed to London-based Object & Animal, which was behind Rosalía’s De Aqui No Sales – which won the International Pop Video award – as well as twigs’ Cellophane. The company has also worked on videos for high profile figures like Justice, Madonna, A$AP Rocky and James Blake this year, despite being relative newcomers on the scene.

The Icon award was handed to Michel Gondry for the contribution he’s made to the craft of music videos, alongside his feature length films. Throughout his career, the French director has worked with artists ranging from Paul McCartney to The Chemical Brothers and repeat collaborator Björk, who all gave their thanks to the legendary director during the ceremony.