Speech Debelle Wins 2009 Mercury Prize

London, England rapper Speech Debelle has won the 2009 Barclay Mercury Prize for this year's Speech Therapy.

The 26-year-old born Corynne Elliot was presented with the 20,000 pound (about $34,000 Canadian) award on Tuesday night at London's Grosvenor House Hotel. She beat out competitors like Bat For Lashes, La Roux, Florence + The Machine and Glasvegas. Speech Therapy has sold only 3,000 copies since its release, according to CBC News, but had seen a 4,000 per cent increase in sales by Wednesday morning.

"It feels better than I imagined," Debelle said of her win, according to CBC News. "My family's here. My friends are here... I don't get emotional — I'm emotional."

The Mercury Prize is an annual prize that's awarded to what's considered the best British or Irish album released over the last year. Winners are chosen by a panel of music journalists and industry personnel.

Debelle has these dates scheduled:

Sept. 10 London, England @ Street League Women's March Day
Sept. 13 Downend, England @ Robin Hill Countryside Adventure Park (Bestival)
Sept. 25 Bristol, England @ Colston Hall w/ Roni Size
Sept. 26 Sheffield, England @ Plug
Sept. 27 Manchester, England @ Night And Day
Sept. 28 Leeds, England @ University Of Leeds
Oct. 1 Glasgow, Scotland @ Glasgow Arches
Oct. 2 Belfast, Northern Ireland @ Stiff Kitten
Oct. 4 Liverpool, England @ Masque
Oct. 6 Liverpool, England @ Morcambe Library
Oct. 7 London, England @ Scala
Oct. 8 Brighton, England @ Coalition