Originally written by Ollie Appleby · 12 September 2001
The winner of the Mercury Music Prize 2001 is PJ Harvey for her album 'Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea'.
The announcement was made this evening at a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, disproving the late betting run on other artists Zero 7 and Turin Brakes
Polly accepted the award via a phone line from America, 'I'm genuinely shocked, I had no expectations of winning. I'm in Washington DC at the moment and the whole city is in a state of shock,'
'It's been a surreal day and this has added to that. All I can say is thank you very much I'm absolutely stunned.'