English Teacher won the Mercury Prize, honoring the best British or Irish album of the year This could be Texas. The headline line-up featured Charli XCX, Beth Gibbons, Nia Archives, Berwyn, the Last Dinner Party, Barry Can't Swim, Corinne Bailey Rae, Cat Burns, CMAT, Ghetts and Corto.Alto. For the first time in the award's 32-year history, there was no public ceremony due to a lack of sponsorship, but judges praised the album's surrealism, social observation and subtly inventive composition. The band took home a prize of £25,000—about $33,000.
Last year's winners of the Mercury Prize were Ezra Collective, the first jazz artist to win the award.
