Tonight, the Mercury Prize—one of the most prestigious awards in British and Irish music—will break with tradition. For the first time in its 33-year history, the ceremony is being held outside London, landing at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena on October 16, 2025. This move, as reported by BBC News and other outlets, signals a broader push to decentralize the UK music industry and shine a light on talent across the country, not just the capital.
The Mercury Prize has always prided itself on recognizing the best albums of the year, regardless of commercial success. This year’s twelve-album shortlist is a testament to that ethos, spanning genres and generations. Among the contenders are Irish singer CMAT with her album Euro-Country, Irish band Fontaines D.C. with Romance, comeback kings Pulp with More, and folk legend Martin Carthy, who at 84 is the oldest nominee in Mercury history for his album Transform Me Then Into a Fish. Other nominees include Wolf Alice, Sam Fender, FKA twigs, PinkPantheress, Pa Salieu, Emma-Jean Thackray, Jacob Alon, and Joe Webb.
According to Nialler9, bookmakers see CMAT as the favorite, with odds of 2/1 for her third album, which blends humor, loneliness, and reflections on national identity. Fontaines D.C. are close behind at 3/1, with their record Romance making waves for its crossover appeal. Pulp, previous winners in 1996, return to the shortlist with More, their first new album in 24 years, sitting at 5/1 odds. Emma-Jean Thackray, Jacob Alon, FKA twigs, and North Shields’ own Sam Fender are all in contention, with the latter hoping for a hometown boost with his album People Watching.
Tonight’s ceremony, hosted by Sunderland native and Radio 6 Music DJ Lauren Laverne, will be broadcast live on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer from 9:30 PM, with additional coverage on BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Sounds, and BBC News. The winner, expected to be announced around 10:30 PM, will receive a specially commissioned trophy and a £25,000 cash prize. As The Scotsman notes, all shortlisted artists will also receive a trophy to mark their achievement.
The decision to move the ceremony to Newcastle is part of a broader industry trend. As Jo Twist, chief executive of the BPI (which organizes the Mercurys and the Brits), told BBC News, “We’ve always had the aspiration to move the Mercury Prize, in particular, outside of London because it’s a representation of the best music of the year from across Britain and Ireland. Celebrating that talent from all over the country was part of the thinking.”
This year’s event follows the MOBO Awards, which also took place in Newcastle, and comes ahead of the Brit Awards’ planned move to Manchester next year. The shift is seen as an effort to address long-standing concerns that the music industry’s opportunities are too concentrated in London. As Twist put it, “Talent is everywhere but opportunity isn’t. So it’s only right that we bring these large scale shows (outside London) to show there are opportunities within the music industry without having to move city.”
For local artists and fans, the move is a source of pride. Finn Forster, a 29-year-old musician from Teesside who has gone from playing pubs to supporting Stereophonics on tour, told BBC News, “The north-east has been overlooked for so long. Everyone’s incredibly proud about the fact the Mercury is coming – and there’s such a high calibre of people performing at the fringe.” The build-up to the ceremony has included a week of concerts and workshops for emerging artists, further underlining Newcastle’s moment in the spotlight.
The Mercury Prize’s judging panel is as eclectic as the shortlist itself. This year’s group includes jazz star Jamie Cullum, DJ Jamz Supernova, The Times’ pop and rock critic Will Hodgkinson, broadcaster Danielle Perry, and Radio 2 head of music Jeff Smith (who also chairs the panel), among others. Their task is to select the winner “based solely on their musical merit and irrespective of how popular or successful an album or act that has been submitted may have been in the previous calendar year,” according to The Scotsman.
Tonight’s performances will see nine of the twelve nominees take the stage: Emma-Jean Thackray, FKA twigs, Jacob Alon, Joe Webb, Martin Carthy, Pa Salieu, Pulp, Sam Fender, and Wolf Alice. CMAT, Fontaines D.C., and PinkPantheress will not perform, but their presence looms large over the proceedings. Wolf Alice, notably, have now been shortlisted for all four of their studio albums, having previously won the prize in 2018 for Visions of a Life.
CMAT, whose real name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, expressed her excitement and gratitude in an interview with BBC Radio 6 Music: “It’s the highest honour, it’s the absolute highest honour that you can receive as someone who makes albums as your medium to express yourself, which is what I do, and I’m particularly proud of Euro-Country, so it really does mean the world to be nominated. Can’t wait to see you all at the Mercury Prize. I hope I win, but also if I don’t, no worries if not.”
Fontaines D.C., meanwhile, have been steadily rising in the betting odds, overtaking Pulp and FKA twigs within just 24 hours, as reported by RTÉ. The band’s previous Mercury nomination came in 2019 for their debut album Dogrel, and their latest effort is seen as a bold step into the mainstream.
For folk legend Martin Carthy, the nomination is a late-career highlight. Carthy, who once gave Bob Dylan his first tour of British folk clubs in 1962, re-examines his songbook on Transform Me Then Into a Fish after more than six decades in music. His presence on the shortlist is a reminder of the Mercury Prize’s commitment to honoring both innovation and legacy.
The Mercury Prize has a storied history, with past winners including Arctic Monkeys, Skepta, Dave, Wolf Alice, Ms. Dynamite, Dizzee Rascal, Klaxons, James Blake, Elbow, The xx, Suede, alt-J, and of course, Primal Scream, who took home the inaugural prize in 1992 for Screamadelica. Last year’s winner was English Teacher for This Could Be Texas, and the prize remains one of the few that can catapult an artist to new heights overnight.
As the music world tunes in to see who will claim the 2025 Mercury Prize, one thing is clear: tonight is not just about the winner, but about celebrating the diversity, creativity, and resilience of British and Irish music—now with Newcastle at its heart.
