Sigur Ros Takes Home Shortlist Grand Prize

Icelandic band Sigur Ros took home the grand prize from the first-ever Virgin Megastore Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement in Music at a concert and party at the Knitting Factory Nov 19. The four-piece atmospheric rock band was awarded $10,000, courtesy of Virgin Megastore, who will also donate $10,000 to a September 11th relief charity in the band's name.

The 10 Shortlist Finalists — Sigur Ros, Nikka Costa, Ryan Adams, Air, Bilal, Talib Kweli, Dandy Warhols, PJ Harvey, Gorillaz and Jay Dee — were selected by a panel of 15 Listmakers (nominating judges) including Beck, Mos Def, Macy Gray, Aimee Mann, and Michael Penn, who was a last-minute substitute for Dave Grohl. The Listmakers convened at the Knitting Factory's Alterknit Theater earlier that evening for a private dinner debate in which they selected the winner.

The Shortlist Organization was founded this year by music industry veterans Greg Spotts and Tom Sarig to create opportunities for left-of-center culture to cross over to the mainstream. The Shortlist Music Project was the first of several annual award events, the next of which will be the Shortlist Fiction Project in early 2002.