Hip-hop artist Speech Debelle is the winner of the Barclaycard Mercury Prize 2009 for the best album of the past year by a UK or Irish artist. Speech Therapy, her debut set, proved a popular winner among the audience at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London Tuesday night. The album was released in the US on September 1 on Ninja Tune. The winner of the 20,000-pound prize is chosen by a panel of industry figures, musicians and journalists. Other nominees for the 2009 award included Kasabian, Bat For Lashes, La Roux, Friendly Fires, Florence and the Machine and Lisa Hannigan.
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