Arcade Fire Win 2011 Polaris Music Prize

Arcade Fire took home the $30,000.00 prizeThe other nine short list nominees were awarded $2000.00.

The gala ceremony included performances by short list nominees Austra, Braids, Galaxie, Hey Rosetta!, Ron Sexsmith and Timber Timbre, with members of Arcade Fire (Win Butler, Jeremy Gara, Richard Reed Parry) on hand as well.

In its sixth year, Arcade Fire joins the group of previous winners which includes Montreal's Karkwa (2010) for Les Chemins De Verre, Toronto's F**ked Up (2009) for The Chemistry Of Common Life, Dundas' Caribou (2008), for Andorra, Montreal's Patrick Watson (2007) for Close To Paradise and Toronto's Final Fantasy (2006) for He Poos Clouds.

"We feel very emotional to receive an award based solely on artistic merit. We really believe in records and we are thankful to the Polaris for recognizing our work and the work of so many great Canadian artists!" � Arcade Fire

The Grand Jury was comprised of 11 journalists, selected from the 213 member Polaris jury. It included: Karen Bliss (Billboard), Elaine Corden (Yukon, North of Ordinary), Emilie C�t� (La Presse), Tom Coxworth (CKUA), David Dacks (CIUT), Mike Devlin (Times Colonist), Yuani Fragata (Bande � part), Anupa Mistry (freelance journalist), Graham Rockingham (The Hamilton Spectator), Gregg Stewart (The Much MTV Group) and Anna Zee (Q104).

Lisa Ladouceur, who oversees the Grand Jury, had this to say about the deliberation: "There's no such thing as a guaranteed winner with Polaris. As always, this year, there was a long and thoughtful discussion about the merits of all the Short Listed records. In the end, The Suburbs was recognized by many jurors as the most accomplished and complete artistic statement."

The 2011 Polaris Music Prize Short List