Arctic Monkeys favourites for Mercury Prize

The Arctic Monkeys are favourites to win this year's Mercury Music Prize for album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not", at a ceremony in London.

Bookmakers say the album, which became the fastest-selling debut album in the UK in February, has "frozen the rest of the field out of the betting".

"It'll be a major surprise if they fail to win," said a spokesman for bookmakers Ladbrokes.

The Sheffield-based band are up against nominees including Muse and Editors.

More than 200 albums were considered for the 2006 prize. Other contenders include Guillemots, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, and Scritti Politti - who last experienced major success in the mid-1980s.

The winner, announced at the London's Grosvenor House Hotel tonight, takes home a cheque for £20,000 (€29,600) - and can expect a surge in album sales.