Alison Balsom has been crowned Female Artist of the Year in association with PPL at the Classic BRIT Awards 2011.

The British trumpeter beat off stiff competition from two other British artists, Mitsuko Uchida and Nicola Benedetti. She was clearly delighted when collecting the award from Laurence Llewelyn Bowen on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, saying: "It's an amazing thing to be able to play music every day... and if it wasn't for you listening to my records and coming to my concerts, it wouldn't be possible."

In the second half of the evening, Alison treated the audience to a live performance of a work from her latest album Italian Concertos.

This has been a great year for Alison, with the release of Italian Concertos in December 2010 and successful concerts in countries as wide-ranging as the United States, Brazil and Germany.

It's not the first time Alison's talent has been recognised at the Classic BRITs, as she walked away with the Young British Classical Performer Award in 2006 and the Female Artist of the Year Award in 2009.

The nominees were: Alison Balsom, Mitsuko Uchida, Nicola Benedetti