Neil Lupin and Belinda Enthoven walked away with Photographer of the Year and the Image of Music awards, respectively, whilst Nikon took a beautiful glass trophy back to their HQ for Product of the Year, thanks to their revolutionary Z9 mirrorless camera. 

The judging panel felt Neil’s overall submission showed depth, consistency and flair throughout, whilst Belinda’s shot of McFly frontman Tom Fletcher at London’s O2 Arena captured everything that we envisaged with the Image of Music Award. 

We were delighted to recognise Dave Hogan with our first Legend Award. Dave has photographed everyone from David Bowie to Lady Gaga, was the official photographer at Live Aid (where he famously turned up with 13 cameras), and has shot campaigns for Hewlett Packard, Beats headphones, Nelson Mandela’s 4664 charity, and Comic Relief. He is rightfully considered a legend in the music photography world. 

Elsewhere, fast rising UK band The Lottery Winners accepted their award for Must See Live Act via video, and St. Albans’ The Horn walked away with our Independent Venue of the Year award. The Horn has helped launch the careers of artists including Enter Shikari, Friendly Fires and Paul Young.  

Live performances on the night came from rising stars Tom A. Smith, Nadia Sheikh and Alfie Castley. 

The SO.CO Music Photographer of the Year Awards were kindly sponsored by Affinity Photo 2, Sony and LD Communications. We'll be bringing you a full image gallery later today. 

Words: Thomas Jackson

Photo: McFly, by Belinda Enthoven