Major awards won by the Pet Shop Boys*
I'm listing only what I consider to be "major" awards. The Boys have also won a great many "lesser" awards, such as being named "Artist of the Year" or having a song declared "Single of the Year" by one newspaper or another, but I'm leaving those out because it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to be comprehensive.
- 1987: BPI ("Brit") Awards (U.K.) - Best Single (for "West End Girls")
- 1987: Ivor Novello Awards (U.K.) - Best International Hit (for "West End Girls")
- 1988: BPI ("Brit") Awards (U.K.) - Best Group
- 1988: Ivor Novello Awards (U.K.) ? - Best International
Hit (for "It's a Sin")
- ? - There's some question about this award. The Pet Shop Boys' own official website as well as several other independent sources assert that they won this award in 1988. Yet other online sources indicate that actually they and "It's a Sin" were only nominated for this award, and the actual winner was Stock, Aitken, and Waterman as the composers of Rick Astley's big hit "Never Gonna Give You Up." (It should be noted that, this same year, the Boys' "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" was also nominated for an Ivor Award as "Best Contemporary Hit," but lost out to the Bee Gees for "You Win Again.") It's not inconceivable that these other sources may be in error with regard to "It's a Sin" vs. "Never Gonna Give You Up." Whatever the case, until I learn more for sure one way or another, I'll retain this award here, but with this note as a caveat.
- 1988: Houston Film Festival (U.S.) - Gold Jury Award (for It Couldn't Happen Here)
- 1988: Berolina Awards (Germany) - Group of the Year
- 1991: Music Week (U.K.) - Best Video of the Year 1990 (for "Being Boring")
- 1994: Siggraph Wave Awards (U.S.) - Best Music Video (for "Liberation")
- 1994: Effects & Animation Festival (U.K.) - Best Music Video (for "Liberation")
- 1999: Viva Comet Awards (Germany) - Best International Video (for "I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More")
- 2000: RSH Gold Awards (Germany) - Best International Band
- 2000: Ivor Novello Awards (U.K.) - Outstanding Contribution to British Music
- 2003: A-Ward (Germany) - Pioneers of Pop: Outstanding Contribution to Pop Music
- 2003: World Awards (International) - The World Arts Award
- 2004: Q Magazine (U.K.) - Q Inspiration Award
- 2005: Song of the Decade 1985-1994 (U.K.) - "West End Girls" (winner of voting by six million BBC Radio 2 listeners in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Ivor Novello Awards)
- 2008: Cannes International Advertising Festival (France) - Gold Cyber Lion Award for "Other Interactive Digital Media Innovative Ideas" (for the "Integral" video)
- 2009: BPI ("Brit") Awards (U.K.) - Outstanding Contribution to Music
- 2011: Evening Standard Theatre Awards (U.K.) - "Beyond Theatre" Award (with collaborator Javier De Frutos, for The Most Incredible Thing)
- 2013: Q Magazine (U.K.) - Q Outstanding Contribution to Music Award
- 2015: Mnet Asia Music Awards (International) - Worldwide Inspiration Award
- 2017: VO5 NME Awards (U.K.) - "Godlike Genius" Award
- 2024: MTV Europe Music Awards (International) - Pop Pioneers Award
*I'm
indebted to the Pet Shop Boys Discography website as the source of much of the information that appears
in this list.
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