Irish artists Fionn Regan and The Thrills are among the 54 acts on the longlist for the prestigious Shortlist Music Prize in the US.
Regan is longlisted for his debut album 'The End of History' while The Thrills are longlisted for their latest album 'Teenager'.
Among the judges of the 2008 prize are Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody and the Killers' Ronnie Vannucci.
Ten acts will be shortlisted for the award early in 2008.
Cat Power won the Shortlist Music Prize last year for her album 'The Greatest'; previous winners include Damien Rice, TV on the Radio, Sigur Ros and NERD.
Among the other acts on the 2008 longlist are: Arcade Fire ('Neon Bible'), Bjork ('Volta'), Eddie Vedder ('Into the Wild' soundtrack), Feist ('The Reminder'), Josh Ritter ('The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter'), Kings of Leon ('Because of the Times'), MIA ('Kala'), PJ Harvey ('White Chalk') and Wilco ('Sky Blue Sky').
