Paul Brady awarded the Tenco Prize for Songwriting

Irish folk singer Paul Brady has been awarded the 2010 Tenco Prize for Songwriting. The prize has been awarded to a songwriter every year since 1974, with previous winners including such talent as Joni Mitchell, Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen.

The award was inspired by the Italian songwriter Luigi Tenco, who died in 1967. Seven years later Club Tenco started up the prestigious prize, and the ceremony has been held every year since in the north-western city of Sanremo, Italy.

Brady began his career as a folk singer in the 1970s, and was for a time, a member of trad outfit Planxty. He went on to release his debut solo album Welcome Here Kind Stranger in 1978. He told Hot Press: "My decade of doing nothing but traditional music is a huge part of my musical history and still very much a part of my consciousness."

Since then he has released thirteen albums, the latest being 2010's Hooba Dooba, which Hot Press deemed to be "is packed with great songs".