SHORTLIST FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

PJ Harvey, Gorillaz and Nikka Costa are among the 10 finalists for the Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement in Music.

The Shortlist Prize was created to honor creative and adventurous albums regardless of genre, and nominees were selected by a panel of "Listmakers" that includes Beck, Trent Reznor, Dave Grohl, Mos Def, and several music journalists and producers.

The finalists were announced Wednesday (10/3) during a broadcast of Listmaker Nic Harcourt's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" show on KCRW Los Angeles and was followed by a panel discussion that featured other judges, including Macy Gray and ?uestlove of the Roots.

Other artists competing for the award’s $10,000 cash prize are Air, Bilal, the Dandy Warhols, Jay Dee, Ryan Adams, Sigur Ros and Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek.

The nominees were compiled from a longer list of albums nominated by the Listmakers in August (hitsdailydouble.com, 8/21). Only albums released in the U.S. after July 2000 that have not sold more than 500,000 copies at the time of their nomination were eligible, in order to focus on emerging artists rather than established acts—never mind the fact that Harvey has been "emerging" for almost a decade now.

The finalists were originally to be announced Sept. 14 in New York, but the event was postponed after last month’s attacks. In addition to sponsoring Shortlist, Virgin Megastore will make a donation in the winner's name to aid victims of the attacks. The winner will be awarded at a concert in Los Angeles later this fall, where no one will be able to aid attendees after the HITS staff crashes the party.