Ed Sheeran and One Direction honored at ARIA Awards

British pop star Ed Sheeran and boyband One Direction were among the winners at the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) Awards in Sydney on Thursday (26Nov15).

The Sing star attended the ceremony to pick up the inaugural Diamond Award in recognition of his achievements in album sales, and he was presented with the trophy by fellow Brit James Blunt.

The pair jokingly held hands on the red carpet before the show, and Ed poked fun at himself during his speech, declaring, "Thank you for this award - I am very, very aware that it was created so it was a bit tempting for me to turn up."

Boyband One Direction landed an ARIA for Best International Artist, and they accepted their trophy via video message in which they thanked fans for "everything you've done for us in the past five years".

Fellow boyband 5 Seconds of Summer were also unable to attend the ceremony, so they accepted their Best Australian Live Act Award via video link from Los Angeles and they were shown wearing pajamas.

Other big winners at the show included rock band Tame Impala, who won Best Album and Best Rock Album for Currents, as well as Best Group.

Song Of The Year went to Conrad Sewell for Start Again, Vance Joy was crowned Best Male Artist, and Courtney Barnett saw off competition from Sia to land Best Female Artist. She also scored wins for Breakthrough Artist and Best Independent Release for Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit.

The Veronicas won Best Video for You Ruin Me and country star Lee Kernaghan landed the Outstanding Achievement Award.

Hip-hop star Seth Sentry was unable to take to the stage to collect his Best Urban Album prize for Strange New Past because he arrived at the ceremony in a wheelchair after breaking his foot, so his trophy was handed to him as he sat in the audience.

"I can't work out if this is really cool having the award delivered to you or really, really lazy," he declared.

During the show, veteran pop star Tina Arena was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

She was introduced by pop singer Kylie Minogue, who paid tribute to the Chains star, saying, "What a woman, what a voice... And what an honor it is to be home (in Australia) to induct the one and only Tina Arena into the Hall of Fame."

Tina, who made a passionate speech about ageism facing women in the music industry, also took to the stage to perform her huge hit Chains with The Veronicas and Jessica Mauboy.

Other performers throughout the night included Ed Sheeran, Vance Joy, Jarryd James and Peking Duk.