Jonny Greenwood is one of the founding members of Radiohead and plays alongside his brother Colin in the band. A classically trained violist, Jonny was named the BBC's composer-in-residence in 2004. He also plays the organ, piano, xylophone, glockenspiel, banjo and harmonica.

Radio 3 listeners chose Popcorn Superhet Receiver from among nine orchestral works commissioned by the BBC over the past year. Other nominees included Michael Berkeley, Gary Carpenter, Simon Holt and Mark-Anthony Turnage; the other two finalists were a viola concerto by Andrew Toovey and Fraser Trainer's Violin Concerto, according to the BBC. The Listener Prize was the only one of the British Composer Award categories to be voted on by the public.

Greenwood received Ô£10,000 from the London-based PRS Foundation for New Music to write another orchestral composition, which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2007.

Other British Composer Award winners included Simon Holt, who received the best orchestral prize for Witness to a Snow Miracle; Hugh Wood, who won the vocal category for his Robert Graves Songs; and Judith Bingham, who won the choral category with My Heart Strangely Warm'd. The Making Music Award, which aims to promote the commissioning and performance of contemporary music by amateurs, went to Chris Long for his work for choir and orchestra, O Lord, Remember.