Mercury Prize

Music award presented annually for the best contemporary British or Irish album of the year. Officially known as the Nationwide Mercury Prize from 2004, it was established by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) as the Mercury Music Prize in 1992.

The prize, created by the same association as the pop music industry Brit Awards, aims to reward innovation and originality over commercial success, and is open to all genres of music. Each year 12 albums are shortlisted for the award, which is presented on the Mercury Show each September. The prize was initially sponsored by the UK telecommuications company Mercury Communications. After Mercury became absorbed into UK telecommuications company Cable and Wireless in 1997, the prize was sponsored by the Japanese hi-fi company Technics 1998–2004 and by Nationwide Building Society from 2004.

The Scottish rock group Primal Scream was the first recipient of the award in 1992 for Screamadelica. Other awardees include Badly Drawn Boy for Hour of Bewilderbeast (2000), PJ Harvey for Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2001), and Franz Ferdinand, for their self-titled album (2004). The 2006 winners were Arctic Monkeys for Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

The unpredictability of the judges' choices, the futures of the prizewinners, and the award's definition of ‘British’ have attracted controversy and media attention.