The awards were conceived at the Lyme Bay Keyboard Experience in February 2004 when Brian Sharp was presented with an award for his lifetime devotion to organ-keyboard music.
Following this introduction to organ-keyboard awards, it was arranged for the Organ1st magazine to print a nomination form for their readers to nominate four players who had given them the most pleasure at live shows during the past year. This was done under the banner of The British Keyboard Player Awards, and sponsored by The Hollybush Hotels Group.
Alan Falkner from the ORGANfax web site was appointed as scrutiniser for the awards planned for February 2005, and from the hundreds of forms returned, the following players (in first name alphabetical order) had the most nominations:-
Andrew Nix; Brett Wales; Ian Griffin and Tony Stace. - see photographs below.
The player with the most nominations was Tony Stace.
The Organ1st magazine then did a two-page feature on the awards to establish it as a milestone on the organ-keyboard scene.
It was decided to hold future awards bi-annually – this would allow more time to make organ-keyboard enthusiasts aware of the awards and to submit their nominations.
In 2007 the awards were expanded to include Britain’s Top Ten Organ-Keyboard Players – again based on nomination forms asking keyboard enthusiasts to nominate four players who had given them the most pleasure at live concerts over the past year. Resulting from this, the following players (in first name alphabetical order) were declared as having the most nominations by Scrutiniser, Alan Falkner:-
Andrew Nix; Brett Wales; Byron Jones; Chris Powell; Chris Stanbury; Ian Griffin; Jean Martyn; John Mann; Nicholas Martin and Tony Stace.
The player with the most nominations was revealed when the golden envelope was opened at the awards ceremony held at the Lyme Bay Holiday Village, Seaton, Devon, on 10th February 2007.
The player with the most nominations was again Tony Stace.
Additional categories acknowledged the most popular keyboard duo - Keyklix and the
most outstanding and best attended organ society - Llay Organ Society.
Andy Oakley received an award for his efforts in giving laughter and entertainment
to organ and keyboard enthusiasts during 2006.
For the next British Keyboard Player Awards, scheduled for February 2009, the progressive Music at Home magazine has been approached to expand the awards with the long-term objective of
making the media more aware of the event.
The awards were conceived at the Lyme Bay Keyboard Experience in February 2004 when Brian Sharp was presented with an award for his lifetime devotion to organ-keyboard music.
To coincide with the announcement of the British Organ-Keyboard Player Awards at Lyme Bay in February 2004, Brian Sharp, one of the guest players, was given a special award
for his lifetime contribution to keyboard music. After personal tributes by Tony Stace and Ian Griffin, two players
who have been inspired by Brian, the maestro was presented with an engraved trophy. This was followed by a superb performance
by Brian with a standing ovation from the audience. After this Brian joined the Keyklix duo to wind up the festival with
yet another standing ovation. It was a great end to an event that will surely go down in history.