Villagers’ frontman and all-round nice guy Conor O’Brien has just been awarded the prize for Best Album at the 2016 Ivor Novello Awards for the band’s 2015 album ‘Darling Arithmetic’.

Nicknamed The Ivors, the awards take place each May and are sponsored by PRS for Music. They are respected worldwide as the major platform for recognising and rewarding Britain and Ireland’s songwriting and composing talents and are judged and presented by the writing community meaning they are not influenced by publishers or record companies.

Jamie Lawson’s Wasn’t Expecting That, which peaked at number 3 in the Irish charts in 2011 before being re-released in the UK in 2015, won the award for Best Song.