Antony and the Johnsons were surprise winners of the Mercury Prize, the award that goes to the best British album. The surprise wasn't related to the album, I Am Bird, but rather to the citizenship of lead singer Antony Hegarty. It seems he was born in Chichester, England, and thus was eligible for a nomination. Hegarty's family relocated to California when he was 12. He moved to New York City when he was 20, roughly 14 years ago. The band is based in New York City and Antony is, as the Kaiser Chiefs' Nick Hodgson pointed out, "an American, really."

My pick, Kaiser Chiefs, didn't take the prize. Guess they'll have to work extra hard from here on out. The Mercury Prize is usually given to a debut album -- Brits are even more youth-obsessed than Americans -- but this year it was not to be. Was it the NY Times Sunday Magazine's big ol' honkin' Antony article that swayed voters? That article has gotta have the highest words/sales ratio in the history of any musician covered by the Sunday Magazine. (4,696 words according to Microsoft Word's handy dandy word count tool.)

This page has a list of all previous nominees and the winners.