Ticket Awards 2017: The half-time form guide

As we head into the final voting days for this year’s Ticket Awards, the main categories couldn’t be closer


The Ticket Awards 2017 is entering the final straight, but there is still everything to play for in this year's poll.

Voting across all categories for film, music, television, books and art closes at midnight on Monday night/Tuesday morning. There's still plenty of time to vote for your favourites and/or canvass your Facebook friends to secure that illustrious top spot. The Oscars look like a dignified show of hands in comparison.

Plenty of you have already had your say but we need more. This isn’t the US elections. The popular vote – or as we like to say, who actually won – matters.

So how do things stand? We've had a good look at the numbers and so far there are almost no certain winners. On film, you are all very taken with Dunkirk, but this battle is far from over. Moonlight, Get Out and The Florida Project all have it locked in their sights.

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Best Irish film at this stage is way too close to call. Killing of a Sacred Deer and Sanctuary are neck and neck, but Cardboard Gangsters, Not Yet Dark and Handsome Devil are just behind the pack.

For best Irish music act, it's all about the new acts. Shookrah and Dermot Kennedy have stormed to near the top of our chart, with Rusangano, Ships and Saint Sister trying to blow them off the main stage slot. For best album, Kendrick Lamar is looking strong at the top, but he's got a double threat of Lorde and Lana Del Ray to deal with.

For television, it's a dead heat. The Handmaid's Tale looked the one to beat from the outset, but Blue Planet II might just wash it away. Rick and Morty's cult status is also being borne out by our figures so far. Wubba lubba dub dub.

On Irish TV, shows about mental health are proving particularly effects. Schizophrenia: The Voices in my Head and Autism and Me are your favourite shows at the moment, with An Klondike and Nowhere Fast facing them down in the TV corral.

In the books world, When Light is Like Water by Molly McCloskey, The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne, House of Names by Colm Tóibín and Smile by Roddy Doyle are trying to secure the top spot, with Sally Rooney and her Conversations with Friends looking to spoil their party.

In non-fiction, The End of Outrage by Breandán Mac Suibhne and the Atlas of the Irish Revolution by John Crowley have you all stroking your book beards knowledgably, with the international non-fiction poll much too close to call and currently divided up between eight contenders.

Get voting now at irishtimes.com/ticketawards. We'll have all the winners in this week's edition of Ticket in Saturday's The Irish Times.