British Breakthrough Act - FKA Twigs: While Royal Blood brought rock back to mainstream radio and Sam Smith saw some pretty incredible global sales domination, there's a sense of otherness to Twigs that you can't help but fall in love with. Chvrches deserve it too, but surely their breakthrough came in 2013 when their album was released?

International Group - The War On Drugs: We wouldn't begrudge Foo Fighters a win here (or if 5 Seconds Of Summer win there may a hole punctured in the fabric of all reason) - but it was WoD who truly triumphed in 2014 with one of the year's greatest albums. Lost In The Dream was an instant classic.

International Male Solo Artist - Hozier: Pharrell might have the numbers to have this in the bag and naturally we'd love to see Beck receive an award uninterrupted. However, it's Hozier, whose incredible debut and 'Take Me To Church' caught the world off guard and dominated the airwaves with soul, passion and credibility that we're backing.

British Group - Alt-J: If only to keep One Direction from winning anything, but mainly because Alt-J's stunning 2014 record was more exciting than those of Coldplay, Royal Blood and Clean Bandit combined.

British Video - 'Uptown Funk' by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars: That old-school class made a very grim winter so much brighter. Julio: get the stretch!

British Male Solo Artist - Damon Albarn: You know Sam Smith or Ed Sheeran are more or less nailed on to this, but Albarn re-earned his icon status by reinventing himself with a beautiful and intricate solo record.

International Female - St Vincent: While all of the nominees are thoroughly deserving, you can't help but feel sleepy at the numbing inevitability of this going to Taylor Swift. Our love of St Vincent however, is no secret - she released the best album of 2014 and evolved into an almighty force of nature on stage. It's been a year of transformation and triumph for Annie Clark and we'd love the Brits to reflect this.

British Album - Alt-J, This Is All Yours: Surpassing yourself after winning the Mercury prize is a challenge that can finish many Mercury artists, or at least see the start of diminishing returns. Alt-J however, stormed back with aplomb - becoming an arena act in the process without losing any of that artful eccentricity.

British Female Solo Artist - FKA Twigs: If this was an award for brutal Twitter takedowns, then of course it would go to Lily Allen (we'd also love for Jessie Ware to finally get the wider recognition she deserves), but it was Ms Twigs who delivered the full, warped, contorted package over the last 12 months.

British Single - 'Uptown Funk' by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars: Because no other runaway track has so righteously soundtracked life quite like this. It will go down a song for all time. Don't believe us? Just watch...