Kate Bush scoops South Bank award

Reclusive singer Kate Bush pipped Adele to a prestigious prize after her latest album was recognised at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards.

50 Words For Snow won the Pop Award at the central London ceremony, beating Adele's Grammy-winning bestseller 21 and PJ Harvey's Let England Shake which was also nominated.

It is Bush's first set of completely new songs since 2005 when she released Aerial.

The awards at the Dorchester Hotel, on Park Lane, also saw wins for artist Grayson Perry, BBC1's Sherlock, Channel 4's Fresh Meat and the musical Matilda.

The show, adapted from Roald Dahl's book, scooped the Theatre award to go with the seven gongs it picked up at the Olivier Awards.

There was also a triumph for husband-and-wife Michael Frayn and Claire Tomalin who won the Outstanding Achievement Award and the Literature Award respectively.

Tomalin's biography of Charles Dickens has been a critical and commercial hit, while Frayn's career has seen him praised for a string of novels and plays including Noises Off which is currently enjoying a revival

The awards were hosted by Melvyn Bragg who said the judges had faced an "impossible decision this year".

He said: "With such a strong and vibrant array of winners, from Kate Bush to Matilda, to the ENO, this is a wonderful opportunity to praise the incredible wealth of artistic brilliance we have in this country."

Here is a full list of winners:

Classical Music - Llyr Williams

Comedy - Fresh Meat, Channel 4

Dance - The Metamorphosis, Arthur Pita, Linbury Studio Theatre

Film - We Need To Talk About Kevin

Literature - Charles Dickens: A Life, Claire Tomalin

Opera - The Damnation Of Faust, ENO

Pop - Kate Bush, 50 Words For Snow

Theatre - Matilda, Royal Shakespeare Company, Cambridge Theatre

TV drama - Sherlock, BBC1

Visual Art - Grayson Perry: The Tomb Of The Unknown Craftsman, British Museum

Times breakthrough award - Sophie Bevan

Outstanding achievement, in association with the Dorchester - Michael Frayn