Awards Season!

The Mercury Prize to return to Newcastle for 2026

The prestigious awards ceremony will once again take place in the city’s Utilita Arena, after Sam Fender scooped the Prize there last year.

18th February 2026
Words: Daisy Carter

It’s official: The Mercury Prize has confirmed that it’ll return to Newcastle for another year, after the Northern powerhouse city played host to the 2025 ceremony in October - the first time ever that the event had been held outside London.

It was also the Prize’s biggest year to date, as the city and wider North East region held a week-long fringe programme of panels, workshops, and talks for the 8000 extra visitors who headed up to dive into the Mercurys buzz.

Local hero Sam Fender was named winner of the coveted accolade last year for his third album ‘People Watching’, declaring in front of a roaring home crowd (as well as fellow shortlisted artists, including Fontaines DC, Pulp, and Wolf Alice) that “this region is the best region in the country!”.

Now, The Prize is set to stay put in the Toon for 2026, with the next ceremony taking place in Newcastle’s Utilita Arena on Thursday 22nd October (in partnership with the BPI, Newcastle City Council, and local music champions Generator). Speaking about the decision, Generator CEO Mick Ross has said: “When Mercury left London, it proved the North has the talent, infrastructure and ambition to lead at the highest level. The BRITs in Manchester followed. The momentum is real.

“For more than 35 years, Generator has championed Northern talent, lobbied for investment and built the partnerships that moments like this depend on. Through Generator’s Mercury Fringe programme, we turned a global awards show into a region-wide platform - creating real opportunities and lasting impact. This year, we’re going further - expanding access, opening more pathways and ensuring Northern artists don’t just take part, but set the agenda.”

Widely recognised as one of the biggest nights in British and Irish music, The Mercury Prize celebrates the album as an art form, with an independent panel of industry professionals curating a genre-spanning shortlist of 12 LPs, from which the winner is chosen.

Watch this space for more info on The 2026 Mercury Prize Newcastle, and remind yourself of what went down last year below.