Mercury Prize increase of their album "The Seldom Seen Kid" after winning the Prize in 2008. In their winner's speech, Elbow's frontman Guy Garvey said that winning the Mercury Prize was 'Quite literally the best thing that has ever happened to us'. Similarly, sales of The xx's winning album rose by 450% the day after they won the 2010 Mercury Prize and 2013 winner James Blake saw a 2,500% sales increase on Amazon after he was announced as the winner of the 2013 Mercury Prize. 2011 winner PJ Harvey's album "Let England Shake" jumped from number 181 to 24 in the UK
Illawarra Mercury and sport coverage. In 2005 The "Mercury" was named Newspaper of the year 20,000-50,000 circ. by the Pacific Area Newspaper Publisher's association PANPA. In 2004 the "Illawarra Mercury" won the Walkley Award for Investigative Journalism and the Pacific Area Newspapers Publishers’ Association Marketing prize. Its editorial cartoonist, Vince O'Farrell, has won international awards for his work - his cartoon immediately after the 11 September 2001 attacks depicting tears rolling down the Statue of Liberty's cheeks is one example. O'Farrell is a six-time winner of the Rotary cartoons award. The "Illawarra Mercury" in 1972 won two of the State’s leading newspaper