TORONTO -- Caribou took home $20,000 and the Polaris Music Prize on Monday night for the CD, "Andorra," which was chosen by a jury as the year's best Canadian album.

A panel of more than 170 writers, broadcasters and bloggers drew up a short list of 10 of the best Canadian albums released between June 1, 2007, and May 31, 2008.

A jury of 11 then fought and debated over which CD deserved the award.

It was the first time in the contest's three-year history that there was no clear front-runner in the voting for the title, which is meant to highlight creativity and diversity in Canadian music, without any consideration given to sales figures, said Polaris spokeswoman Liisa Ladouceur.

Dan Snaith, the sole member of Caribou, which used to be called Manitoba, stammered a bit as he accepted his giant cheque and said he was unprepared to speak to the crowd because didn't expect to win.

"I guess the most important thing I wanted to say is I feel so lucky and so proud to be included among such an incredible group of musicians and group of albums," he said.

"I really feel humbled and proud."

The Polaris award doesn't go to the biggest names in Canadian music, and instead rewards the more undiscovered and underappreciated acts performing under the radar.

Last year, Patrick Watson beat out the likes of Arcade Fire and Feist, and in 2006, Final Fantasy's album was selected over records by Broken Social Scene, Sarah Harmer, Metric and the New Pornographers.

This year's nominees represented a wide range of genres, from the different rock and pop sounds of Black Mountain, Basia Bulat, Kathleen Edwards, Plants and Animals, Stars, Two Hours Traffic, and the Weakerthans, to hip hop by Shad, and electronic beats and blips by Caribou and Holy F***.

Each nominee got a chance to perform -- a video was played for those who couldn't make it to the awards show in Toronto -- and the performances were broadcast live on CBC Radio Three and Sirius channel 86 and taped to be show on television in a few weeks.

Edwards said the night was a good way of recognizing the contributions of artists and their -- sometimes ignored -- work.

"We probably couldn't do anything else with our lives because there's something within us that makes us put out what we do," she said.

"And I applaud and deeply respect all of you."