Plan B is a stand out favourite for this year’s Mercury Prize while singer Emeli Sande missed out on having a chance of scooping the award. BBC Radio 6 presenter Lauren Laverne read out the nominations which revealed that it is indie groups and singer/songwriters that largely dominate the list this year.

Who’s in the running?

Rapper Plan B is standing out from the crowd this year with his platinum-selling album, Ill Manors tipped for a win. Judges in the competition praised his album highly – showing that the change in the style of his music has been well received.

“[It is] a brilliantly visceral soundtrack to an angry, troubling and harsh picture of life on the underside of London in 2012.”

Not too deep then.

Hot on his heels is singer Richard Hawley and his sixth album Standing at the Sky’s Edge. The Sheffield born singer is known for his skill with a guitar and has been nominated numerous times before for various music awards.

Others in the running include The Maccabee’s, with Given to the Wild, Lianne La Havas, Is Your Love Big Enough and Jessie Ware with Devotion.

Lianne and Jessie are holding the torch for the ladies this year – with the other ten nominees all being male.

It’s not good news for everyone though – Hot Chip, Emeli Sande, The XX and Kate Bush were all tipped to make the shortlist however did not quite make the final cut.

When will we find out?

The winner will be announced on the 1 November in a Glitzy ceremony in London. The lucky recipient will get 20,000 pounds cash along with a lot more record sales hopefully.

Happy judging.