Sky Arts to host South Bank Show Awards

The South Bank Show Awards are to live on after Melvyn Bragg signed a deal with the Sky Arts channel, it was announced yesterday.

There had been fears that the annual event would end after ITV axed the arts supremo's long-running series. But they will return next year, renamed the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, with Lord Bragg fronting a series of documentaries about the winners.

The presenter has already agreed to work on a number of BBC programmes since ITV pulled the plug on his arts programmes after more than 30 years.

Lord Bragg will host the awards show - for which he will also be editor - when it next takes place in early 2011.

His documentaries will be screened by Sky Arts after the ceremony.