AceShowbiz -

The shortlist unveiled at a reception in London yesterday mentioned British rock act Coldplay as one of the 12 contenders competing to win the Mercury Award. The band's third album "X&Y" has been decided to be of such good quality, especially when performed live, and is mentioned as the third nominee. And so, this is the 3rd times that Coldplay has been nominated for the award after it lost the 2000's to Badly Drawn Boy and the 2003's to Dizzee Rascal.

Settled on the top nominee seat is singer-songwriter KT Tunstall's debut album "Eye To The Telescope." In between is rockers Bloc Party's "Silent Alarm" as second.

Any other mentioned in the list, most of which are English guitar bands which have released debut albums in the past 12 months, including "I Am a Bird Now" by Antony and the Johnsons; Hard-Fi's "Stars of CCTV"; rock band Kaiser Chiefs' album "Employment"; "A Certain Trigger" by Maximo Park; "Arular" by M.I.A.; "Held On the Tips of Fingers" by Polar Bear; "Kitty Jay" by Seth Lakeman; "Thunder, Lighting, Strike" by The Go! Team; and The Magic Numbers' self-titled album.

Those mentioned will all compete to win the Mercury award, whose winner will be named on September 6 at the "Albums of the Year" celebration in London telecast by BBC 2 and BBC 4 and broadcast on BBC Radio 1.