| by Tom Townshend |
Mercury Prize 2009
Click the thumbnails to read about the nominated albums
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Rapper Speech Debelle has landed the Mercury Prize for her album Speech Therapy, inspired by a spell of homelessness.
She won the prestigious prize ahead of 11 other shortlisted acts at a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in central London and her victory saw her follow in the footsteps of acts such as Klaxons, Arctic Monkeys and last year's victors Elbow.
She said: "I feel so good. It feels better than I imagined. My family's here. My friends are here. I'm from south London - I don't get emotional - I'm emotional.
"This proves if you believe in something and you think you can do it, you can achieve it."
As well as picking up £20,000 in prize money, Ms Debelle has already seen a 4000% increase in sales of her album, according to online retailer Amazon.
Our man Tom Townshend was blogging live on the night. You can read his thoughts as the action unfolded plus watch footage of the announcement and an interview with the lucky winner.
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