The prize money is funded by the State of Rhineland-Palatinate and SWR and is worth around $19,000.
Laubrock received the award for her album Sleepthief (Intakt, 2008), recorded with Tom Rainey (drums) and Liam Noble (piano). The jury cited Laubrock's individual and highly personal improvisation on the saxophone" as the reason for the award.
In 2006, Laubrock was awarded a Fellowship in Jazz Composition by the UK's independent funding body The Arts Foundation. That award was worth around $18,000.
Laubrock was born in Germany and now lives in London and Brooklyn. The SWR award ceremony will take place on July 2, 2009 in the town of Mainz, in southwest Germany, where Laubrock will perform with her trio.
The annual SWR Jazz Award is now 28 years old. Other contenders on the 2009 shortlist were Carl Ludwig Hubsch (tuba), Paul Lovens (drums) and Rude Mahall (bass clarinet).
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