Bella Hardy wins folk singer of the year

Imogen Tilden

Thursday, 20 Feb 2014

Other winners in last night's BBC Folk Awards include the supergroup The Full English and Lisa Knapp, while Peggy Seeger paid tribute to her late half-brother Pete

• Comment: Folk is growing up but it still has a lot to learn

Last night's music award ceremonies weren't just about the Brits. Over at the Royal Albert Hall, the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrated the best of the nation's folk singers and songs from the past year in a ceremony hosted by Mark Radcliffe, Jarvis Cocker, and singer Julie Fowlis.

The evening included performances by Bellowhead, Suzanne Vega, Clannad (recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award) and culminated in a performance by US folk singer Peggy Seeger, who led a tribute to her half-brother Pete, who died last month. She was joined on stage by a number of performers to sing one of his best-known songs, Quite Early Morning.

Folk singer of the year went to the 29-year-old Bella Hardy, whose interpretations of traditional music and her own songwriting have won her critical and popular acclaim. Exeter pair Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin, discovered by Show of Hands's Steve Knightley busking on the Devon seafront, picked up the Best Duo award, and the Best Group gong went to folk supergroup the Full English, whose members include Seth Lakeman, Fay Hield and Martin Simpson.