Mercury Prize Nominations Announced - The Mercury Prize nominations for 2012 have been announced with Plan B and Richard Hawley emerging as favourites to win with odds of 4 - 1 each.
The 12 album shortlist picked by an independent judging panel were announced yesterday (Sept.12) at Covent Garden's Hospital Club. Rupert Adams of bookmakers William Hill said (via NME) : "This has been a year of musical excellence with these albums representing a diverse range of styles from UK artists. This quality is reflected in the closeness of the odds we've given to the 2012 Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize 'Albums Of The Year' - every album here could be a winner." Alternative indie pop quartet, Alt-J had previously been named as the odds-on favourite for the 2012 prize by bookmakers, but their odds have now dropped to to 5-1. The full list of nominated albums is:
Alt-J - 'An Awesome Wave' (5/1) Richard Hawley - 'Standing On The Sky's Edge' (4-1) Plan B - 'Ill Manors' (4-1) Sam Lee - 'Ground Of Its Own' (10-1) Lianne La Havas - 'Is Your Love Big Enough?' (8-1) Django Django - 'Django Django' (5-1) The Maccabees - 'Given To The Wild' (7-1) Ben Howard - 'Every Kingdom' (8-1) Jessie Ware - 'Devotion' (7-1) Roller Trio - 'Roller Trio' (10-1) Field Music - 'Plumb' (10-1) Michael Kiwanuka - 'Home Again' (8-1)