Mercury Prize 2012 shortlist announced

Without further ado, the 2012 Albums of the Year are:

Alt-J, 'An Awesome Wave'

Ben Howard, 'Every Kingdom'

Django Django, 'Django Django'

Field Music, 'Plumb'

Jessie Ware, 'Devotion'

Lianne La Havas, 'Is Your Love Big Enough?'       

Michael Kiwanuka, 'Home Again'       

Plan B, 'Ill Manors'

Richard Hawley, 'Standing at the Sky’s Edge'

Roller Trio, 'Roller Trio'

Sam Lee, 'Ground of its Own'

The Maccabees, 'Given to the Wild'

The shortlist, chosen from an entry of over 250 albums, was announced by Lauren Laverne. The Hospital Club in Covent Garden, the club for the creative industries, hosted the event.

This year will see the Prize introduce a new series of exclusive one-off gigs featuring the shortlisted artists being held ahead of the Awards Show on 1 November. Tickets for the events will be made available through competitions and a special ballot system.

The overall winner of the 2012 Prize will be announced at the Barclaycard Mercury Prize Awards Show at the Roundhouse on Thursday 1 November 2012.

What do you think about the shortlist? Any surprises? Who would you like to see win?