Alt-rockers Elbow have won this year’s Mercury Prize, edging out a tough field of nominees that included Radiohead, Burial and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss.

The Manchester-based quintet and their album “The Seldom Seen Kid” received the prestigious award at a ceremony in London Tuesday.

The $40,000 US prize, given annually to the best album from the U.K. or the Republic of Ireland, is voted on by a panel of music critics and experts.

Frontman Guy Garvey described winning the prize as “quite literally the best thing that’s ever happened to us,” and dedicated the honour to the band’s late friend Bryan Glancy, who inspired the record.

“He was one of the greatest men that ever lived,” Garvey told the audience.

“The Seldom Seen Kids” is Elbow’s fourth album and the second to receive a Mercury nomination. The band, who formed nearly two decades ago, received their first nod in 2001 courtesy of their debut record, “Asleep In The Back.”

This year’s shortlist of 12 nominees, announced back in July, included Radiohead’s “In Rainbows,” Burial’s “Untrue” and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’s “Raising Sand.”

Klaxons took the prize last year for their debut album, “Myths of the Near Future.”

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Radiohead, Robert Plant and Adele may cover a wide spectrum of music styles, but now they have at least one thing in common: a place on the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Prize shortlist.

The three were among the 12 finalists announced Tuesday for the award, which honours the best British or Irish album of the past year.

Alt-rock powerhouse Radiohead made the list with their seventh album “In Rainbows,” which was first released last October as a pay-what-you-choose digital download before being given the standard CD release treatment.

Plant, who has built a successful solo career outside his work with Led Zeppelin, is nominated for his collaboration with American country-bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, “Raising Sand.”

Twenty-year-old soul singer Adele was recognized for her debut album “19,” which was released shortly after she received the first Brit Awards Critics’ Choice prize last December.

Other Mercury finalists include indie duo The Last Shadow Puppets (featuring Arctic Monkey’s Alex Turner) for “The Age of the Understatement,” seasoned rockers Elbow for “The Seldom Seen Kid” and Brighton four-piece British Sea Power for “Do You Like Rock Music?”

The shortlist was whittled down from more than 240 albums.

The winner will be announced Sept. 9 at a London ceremony hosted by musician and presenter Jools Holland. The show will also feature live performances from nominees.

Previous Mercury Prize winners include Primal Scream, Dizzee Rascal, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys and last year’s recipient, Klaxons.

Here are the finalists for the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Prize:
• Adele – “19″
• British Sea Power – “Do You Like Rock Music?”
• Burial – “Untrue”
• Elbow – “The Seldom Seen Kid”
• Estelle – “Shine”
• Laura Marling – “Alas, I Cannot Swim”
• Neon Neon – “Stainless Style”
• Portico Quartet – “Knee-Deep In The North Sea”
• Rachel Unthank & The Winterset – “The Bairns”
• Radiohead – “In Rainbows”
• Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – “Raising Sand”
• The Last Shadow Puppets – “The Age Of The Understatement”

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