The South Bank Show is returning to TV on 27 May on Sky Arts, announces the broadcaster, to be preceded by the ceremony for the 16th South Bank Sky Arts Awards. The awards event on 1 May at the Dorchester Hotel, London, highlights the year's top achievements from the whole range of arts, from new music to literature, from comedy to architecture.

For the first time, the pop category is a female-only shortlist, with PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake and Kate Bush’s 50 Words For Snow going up against Adele’s 21.

In film Joe Cornish’s aliens vs hoodies debut Attack The Block will go up against Lynne Ramsay’s compelling adaptation of the harrowing novel, We Need To Talk About Kevin¸ and last year's breakout documentary Senna.

The comedy award has two TV comedies go head to head with one of the UK’s most popular stand-up comedians: Channel 4’s student sitcom Fresh Meat and Olympic mockumentary Twenty Twelve contend with Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle.

The ceremony on 1 May, edited and presented by longtime South Bank Show supremo Melvyn Bragg, will air at 9pm on Sky Arts 1 HD, and on the move with Sky Go.

The South Bank Show will also return to screens from 27 May, following the announcement in 2010 that it would no longer air on terrestrial television. “Although this is a celebration of British arts by British artists, we have a world-class list of nominees,” says Melvyn Bragg. “The South Bank Sky Arts Awards are the only one of their kind in the world, and we very much look forward to a great day, where we’ll recognise and honour the best talent in this country.“

Nominations

Classical Music

• Llŷr Williams: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Cycle at Edinburgh Festival
• Harrison Birtwistle with Boston Symphony Orchestra: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra at Boston Symphony Hall
• Sir Colin Davis and the LSO: Nielsen’s Symphony Cycle at the Barbican

Comedy

• Fresh Meat, Channel 4
• Twenty Twelve, BBC Four
• Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, BBC Two


Dance

• Zoo Nation, Some Like it Hip Hop, Sadler's Wells
• Akram Khan, Desh, The Curve
• Arthur Pita, The Metamorphosis, Linbury Studio

Film

• Attack The Block
• Senna
• We Need To Talk About Kevin

Literature

• Pure, Andrew Miller
• Charles Dickens: A Life, Claire Tomalin
• Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, Jeanette Winterson

Opera

• The Damnation of Faust, ENO
• Mignon, Buxton Festival
• Heart of Darkness, Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House

Pop Music

• Adele, 21
• PJ Harvey,  Let England Shake
• Kate Bush,  50 Words For Snow

Theatre

• Matilda, the Musical, Royal Shakespeare Company
• One Man, Two Guvnors, National Theatre
• Constellations, Royal Court

TV Drama

• Sherlock, BBC One
• This is England ’88, Channel 4
• Top Boy, Channel 4

Visual Art

• Grayson Perry: The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman,  British Museum
• David Chipperfield: The Hepworth, Wakefield
• David Hockney: A Bigger Picture, Royal Academy

Read theartsdesk report: South Bank Show comes to Sky Arts