David Bowie album an early favourite for Mercury Prize 2013

With this year’s Mercury Prize recently announced to take place on 30 October, the bets have started on who will grab the accolade this time round, even if 2013 is still in its relative infancy.

An obvious favourite is David Bowie’s The Next Day, and the bookies odds seem to be backing it up. Paddy Power have recently slashed their odds for Bowie to win from 12/1 to 7/2, after public and critical acclaim for the comeback record.

Foals follow Bowie, with Holy Fire currently at 14/1. More bizarrely, Laura Marling’s yet-to-be-released forthcoming new album has odds of 16/1.

Labels have between 3 June and 10 July to sumbit acts to be considered for this year’s shortlist, with the twelve nominations announced on 11 September. Only British albums released between 11 September 2012 and 9 September 2013 will all be eligible.