Arcade Fire Wins Canada's Polaris Music Prize

After taking home the Grammy award and Juno award for Album of the Year, Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" has been named the best Canadian album of the past 12 months by earning the 2011 Polaris Music Prize, it was announced on Monday (Sept. 19).

The indie rock collective's third album bested full-lengths like "House of Balloons," by the mysterious R&B artist the Weeknd; "Kaputt" by indie vets Destroyer; and "New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges," by Bon Iver collaborator Colin Stetson, among others. According to CBC News, the prize was accepted by Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara and multi-instrumentalist Richard Parry at a small ceremony in Toronto.

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"Anyone who is under 18 and playing music and everyone who has ever been on stage and had the opportunity to play music and have someone hear it, just stick with it, because in 20 years you could be up here and have an album much better than this," said Gara.

Since its inaugural year in 2006, the Polaris Prize has honored Canadian artists with a single award given to a member of a shortlist, much like the Mercury Music Prize in the U.K. Winners have been given a $20,000 prize with the award in the past, but this year the jackpot was increased to $30,000.  

Arcade Fire's second album, "Neon Bible," lost the 2007 Polaris Prize to Patrick Watson's "Close to Paradise." Last year, Karkwa's "Les Chemins de verre" beat out higher-profile artists like Tegan and Sara, Owen Pallett and Broken Social Scene to earn the Polaris Prize.