Jazz at Leeds Conservatoire scooped the coveted education prize in the 2026 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. The Jazz department, plus former student Olivia Cuttill, received accolades at the ceremony at World Heart Beat in London.
Ed Jones, Principal Lecturer at Leeds Conservatoire, accepting the Jazz Education Award. Photo credit throughout: Tabitha Noel Curry (World Heart Beat)
Jazz at Leeds Conservatoire won the Jazz Education Award, marking the department’s six decades of shaping generations of UK jazz musicians, and its continued commitment to creativity, rigour and artistic identity.
Jim Corry, Academic Manager for Jazz at Leeds Conservatoire, said: “To be acknowledged as one of the country’s most influential educational institutions through winning the Jazz Education Award is an absolute honour. Thank you to everyone who has contributed over the years to the success of our Jazz department. Congratulations also to Olivia Cuttill on her well-deserved prize.”
Olivia Cuttill accepting the Jazz Newcomer of the Year Award
A 2023 graduate of the conservatoire’s undergraduate Jazz course, Olivia Cuttill won Jazz Newcomer of the Year and expressed her gratitude for everyone who has made this possible. A trumpeter of striking tone and confidence, Olivia’s work across the UK scene marks her as a standout newcomer. Her musicality and presence signal a bright future.
Music was always on the agenda for Olivia. She said: “I knew all my life I wanted to be a musician. I come from a line of musicians, my dad is a drummer, and my dad’s dad was a pianist. To be a musician was never a choice I had to make, it was something that I’ve always wanted to do.”
The annual awards are organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG), and celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, breadth and talent of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom. Award categories reflect the ever-increasing scope of talent from within the UK’s jazz scene.
Dame Chi Onwurah MP, Chair of the APPJG, said: "These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the talents and energies of the great musicians, educators, promoters, record labels, jazz organisations, blogs, jazz magazines and journalists who help keep jazz flourishing. These shortlists demonstrate the wealth of talent and commitment that exists in the British jazz scene.”
The Parliamentary Jazz Awards are supported by the Musicians’ Union who are a community of over 36,000 musicians working to protect their members’ rights and campaign for a fairer music industry. With additional support from the Royal Society of Musicians which provides vital financial assistance, advice and guidance to music professionals across the UK who have been impacted by physical or mental ill health. Further support is provided by UK Music which is the collective voice of the UK’s world-leading music industry.
