Tom Odell, AlunaGeorge And Laura Mvula Shortlisted For BRIT Awards 2013 Critics' Choice

6 December 2012, 15:45 | Updated: 4 December 2017, 11:10

The winner of the prize will be announced shortly before Christmas.

Tom Odell, AlunaGeorge and Laura Mvula have been shortlisted for the Critics' Choice award at next year's BRIT Awards.

The three up and coming artists will find out who has won the award ahead of the ceremony on 20th December. The second and third places will also be announced on the same day.

In previous years, the Critics' Choice award has been won by Adele (2008), Florence + The Machine (2009), Ellie Goulding (2010), Jessie J (2011) and Emeli Sande (2012), who went on to perform at the opening and closing ceremonies at this London 2012 Olympic Games.

The artists nominated for the Critics' Choice Award are chosen by a team of experts including music editors of national newspapers, key music and lifestyle magazines and music websites plus the heads of music at major radio and music TV stations.

Tom Odell said: "I'm thrilled to be nominated and I feel privileged to be in the same company as previous nominees of the caliber of Adele, Emeli Sande, Michael Kiwanuka and Florence."

AlunaGeorge said: "We both feel incredibly honoured to be shortlisted for this award. Completely blown away, it's a great feeling to have our music recognised in such a big way. 2013 is going to be an incredible year for UK music"

Laura Mvula said: "Wow, I'm speechless!  It's unbelievable and I'm in total shock.  I don't think I've experienced this kind of shock before.  It's such a huge honour to be included in this prestigious shortlist, I don't think that I can put it in to words. Thank you."

The Award is open to artists with a recording deal who are set to release their debut albums in 2013; over 100 artists from a range of genres were considered for the award.  

The BRIT Awards 2013 take place on 20th February 2013 at The O2 Arena, London.