In Photos: Meteor Choice Music Prize 2011 Live Event (Part 2) @ The Olympia Theatre, Dublin (08.03.12)

As the tension mounted at last week's Meteor Choice Music Prize Live Event, several heavy hitters arrived late in the night's running order to remind us all just how strong a year 2011 was for Irish music. This year's judges certainly had their work cut out for them, so it was with good reason that Tony Clayton-Lea and his panel were reportedly locked in deliberation in a nearby hotel right up until the last minute (for an honest and insightful 'judge's view' of events, read Nay McCardle's post-bash article).

In the end, And So I Watch You From Afar, Lisa Hannigan and Bell X1 (all pictured in action below) each would have made worthy winners, but it was Jape who scooped the €10,000 winners' cheque, along with a specially-commissioned trophy and those hard-earned bragging rights. In doing so, Richie Egan and co. became the first two-time CMP recipients, following their 2008 triumph with third LP Ritual.

The looks on the band members' faces in Mark Earley's shots speak volumes - both for how surprised the Jape lads were to win for a second time, and for just how much the prize obviously means to them. Special mention must also go to Dublin six-piece Royseven, who walked away with the inaugural Irish Song of The Year Award (decided by the public via text and online vote) for their huge radio hit 'We Should Be Lovers'. Kudos also to Paddy Kelleher's gold jacket, Ms. Hannigan's smile and Richie's proper chipper Maradona impression.

Part one of our live gallery from Thursday night can be found over here, while you can now watch most of the evening's ten performances – including the winners rocking their current single 'Scorpio' – over on Meteor's YouTube channel. Here's to another blistering twelve months for quality homegrown sounds...