Caribou's Andorra has won this year's Polaris Prize (the Canadian equal to the Mercury Prize), but it was no easy feat. Here was the competition:

Black Mountain: In the Future
Basia Bulat: Oh, My Darling
Kathleen Edwards: Asking for Flowers
Holy Fuck: LP
Plants and Animals: Parc Avenue
Stars: In Our Bedroom After the War
Shad: The Old Prince
Two Hours Traffic: Little Jabs
The Weakerthans: Reunion Tour

The prize is given to the best Canadian full-length album of the year based solely on artististic merit, regardless of genre or sales. The award is new; the first prize was given out in 2006 to Final Fantasy. Last year's winner was Patrick Watson.

As you're probably wondering, how do they pick the winner? Well, an 11-man jury of educated music fiends (that changes every year) gather in Toronto in late September and each picks their top 5 albums of the year. It is then narrowed down to 10 albums, then to one. Here were this year's jurors:

• Mike Bell, Calgary Herald - (Calgary)
• Denise Benson, Eye Weekly - (Toronto)
• Evelyn Cote, Ici - (Montréal)
• Lana Gay, CBC radio3 - (Vancouver)
• Kevin Kelly, Newfoundland Herald - (St. John's)
• Joshua Ostroff, AOL Canada - (Toronto)
• James Stewart Reaney, London Free Press - (London)
• Li Robbins, CBC Radio/Globe And Mail - (Toronto)
• Hannah Simone, MuchMusic - (Toronto)
• Darryl Sterdan, Winnipeg Sun - (Winnipeg)
• Frank Yang, Chromewaves - (Toronto)

Video: Caribou: Live at Metro [Pitchfork.tv]
Video: Caribou: Melody Day [from the Andorra LP]
Video: Caribou: Irene [from the Andorra LP]