Dublin act Villagers and Northern Irish artists Iain Archer and David Holmes were among the winners at the Ivor Novello songwriting awards in London on Thursday.
Villagers' Conor O'Brien won the Best Album award for 2015's Darling Arithmetic. 'The Ivors' previously honoured Villagers in 2011 with the Best Song Musically & Lyrically award for Becoming a Jackal.
This year, Belfast's David Holmes shared the Best Television Soundtrack award with Keefus Ciancia for their work on London Spy. Bangor's Iain Archer and English singer-songwriter James Bay shared the Performing Rights Society's award for Most Performed Work for Bay's Hold Back the River.
James Bay and Iain Archer Photo: PA
Regular visitor to Ireland and former Dublin resident Jamie Lawson won Best Song Musically and Lyrically for Wasn't Expecting That.
Jamie Lawson Photo: PA
Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid and Gary Lightbody were also nominated in the Best Song Musically and Lyrically category for their work on Ed Sheeran's Bloodstream.
Ahead of the awards ceremony, McDaid hailed a resurgence in Irish music and art across the world, saying he feels like we are going through a renaissance period.
Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, Johnny McDaid and Jonny Quinn at the Ivor Novello Awards Photo: PA
"I think that Ireland is having a real renaissance in art generally at the moment. If you look at the world of film and the representation at the Oscars this year from Ireland, it just seems to be having a real resurgence in artistic output," the Derry man told the Press Association.
Room's Jacob Tremblay, Stutterer director of photography Michael Paleodimos and writer/director Benjamin Cleary and Beasts of No Nation star Abraham Attah at this year's Oscars
This year's Oscars saw an incredible Irish representation with a win for Stutterer in the Best Short Film category and multiple nominations for the Lenny Abrahamson-directed Room and John Crowley's Brooklyn. Michael Fassbender was also shortlisted for Best Actor for his role in Steve Jobs.
McDaid added: "It's not really surprising to me that there's so many Irish voices or Irish representatives there, because it's just a place that's full of art, and a place where art is encouraged and art is something that's beautiful there.
"The artists in Ireland have always been the kings. And I think that's now coming back again, where art is something that we get to do and be respected for, rather than something we do because we don't know how to do anything else."
Hozier
The 39-year-old musician, who is in a relationship with former Friends star Courteney Cox, also spoke about the impact of the increasingly global nature of the music industry and how it propelled Hozier to international stardom.
"If you look at the charts and the globalisation of charts, people are really scared of that idea. But actually now what it does is it gives people access to music from everywhere, and people vote with their feet. And if you look at someone like Hozier, who has just come from relative obscurity into massive acclaim across the world - I love seeing that," he said.
"I love it when an artist gets to do that and for me it's particularly special when they're from Ireland because we're such a small country. We only have a few million people, and yet the reach artistically is so huge."
Speaking about his Ivor Novello nomination, McDaid described it as "the most special award for a songwriter" because it is voted for by people that are involved in the music industry and people "who actually do this too".
"It's really such an amazing honour to even have the name Ivor Novello mentioned beside yours," he said.
The full list of Ivor Novello award winners:
Best Song Musically and Lyrically - Wasn't Expecting That by Jamie Lawson
Best Contemporary Song - All My Friends by Snakehips feat Tinashe and Chance the Rapper
PRS for Music Most Performed Work - Hold Back the River by Iain Archer and James Bay
Album Award - Darling Arithmetic by Villagers
Best Original Film Score - Ex-Machina (Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury)
Best Television Soundtrack - London Spy (Keefus Ciancia and David Holmes)
International Achievement - Wayne Hector
Lifetime Achievement - Damon Albarn
Outstanding Song Collection - Simple Minds
PRS for Music Outstanding Contribution to British Music - Portishead
PRS for Music Special International Award - Bryan Adams
The Ivors Classical Music Award - Oliver Knussen
The Ivors Inspiration Award - Happy Mondays
Songwriter of the Year - Adele
