Roberts picks up alternative Mercury

NICOLA ROBERTS has been awarded an alternative to the Mercury Prize.

The Girls Aloud singer turned up to a central London pub to accept the tongue-in-cheek award - a framed £20 note.

Her band's hit The Promise was named single of the year by music website Popjustice.

She joked: "How do I feel? I feel so liberated."

The Sugababes were awarded worst single of the year for Girls and have been sent a £20 invoice.

The Popjustice Twenty Quid Music Prize was formed as a light-hearted antidote to the Mercury Prize, where the winner receives £20,000.

Popjustice editor and chairman of the 35-strong jury, Peter Robinson, said: "The voting process is sort of a shambles.

"I draw up a shortlist of 12 songs and then, over the course of the evening in a pub with a lot of alcohol, a group of judges who have applied through the website eliminate one song at a time."