Polaris Music Prize

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The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 and includes a C$20,000 cash prize. The Polaris Music Prize is modeled after the Mercury Music Prize, which is handed to the best British or Irish album over the past year, and inspired in turn the Atlantis Music Prize for Newfoundland and Labrador.^[1]

The award is sponsored by Sirius Satellite Radio, Government of Canada, FACTOR, MySpace Canada, Slaight Communications and The Drake Hotel.

The Polaris Music Prize gala is broadcast live via CBC Radio 3, both online and on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Jury and selection process

There is no submission process or entry fee for the Polaris Music Prize. Jurors select what they consider to be the five best Canadian albums released in the previous year. The ballots are tabulated with each number one pick awarded five points, a number two pick awarded four points and so on. A longlist of every eligible album is then sent back to the jury. The jurors then re-submit five top picks from this longlist.

These ballots are retabulated and the top ten titles form the Polaris shortlist. The ultimate winner is decided by a smaller group of 11 jury members ("The Grand Jury") who convene in Toronto at the Polaris Music Prize gala in late September, and the decision is finalized during the gala as the nominated bands perform.

Jurors are selected by the Polaris Music Prize board of directors. The jury list includes more than 178 Canadian music journalists, bloggers and broadcasters. To ensure an impartial outcome no one with direct financial relationships with artists is eligible to become a jury member. The organization itself is a registered, not-for-profit corporation. Another key benefit of enlisting only music journalists as judges is the increased media coverage and it boosts the ultimate goal of drawing attention to quality music in a cluttered commercial landscape and increasingly fractured music scene.^[2]

Notable jurors have included former MuchMusic VJs Hannah Sung and Hannah Simone, Toronto Star music columnists Ben Rayner and John Sakamoto, CFNY-FM program director Alan Cross, CBC Radio personalities Jowi Taylor, Patti Schmidt, Jian Ghomeshi, Matt Galloway, Grant Lawrence, Lana Gay and Amanda Putz, Voir music journalists Stéphane Martel, Patrick Baillargeon and Olivier Robillard-Laveaux and The Hour host George Stroumboulopoulos, Bravo! Arts & Minds Associate producer Tim Powis and Bravo! Live at the Concert Hall producer Robert Benson

Winners

• 2006 Polaris Music Prize: Final Fantasy, He Poos Clouds
• 2007 Polaris Music Prize: Patrick Watson, Close to Paradise
• 2008 Polaris Music Prize: Caribou, Andorra
• 2009 Polaris Music Prize: Fucked Up, The Chemistry of Common Life

See also

• Choice Music Prize (Ireland)
• Mercury Music Prize (United Kingdom and Ireland)
• Australian Music Prize (Australia)
• Prix Constantin (France)
• Shortlist Prize (United States)

References

External links

• Polaris Music Prize
• Polaris Music Prize at MySpace