Polaris Music Prize

Not to be confused with Polar Music Prize.

Polaris Music Prize
Description	Best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label.
Country	Canada
First awarded	2006
Website	polarismusicprize.ca

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 with a $20,000 cash prize; the prize was increased to $30,000 for the 2011 award. In May 2015, it was announced the Polaris Music Prize winner will now receive $50,000, an additional $20,000, thanks to the sponsorship of Slaight Music. Additionally, second place prizes which go to the nine other acts on the Short List will increase from $2,000 to $3,000. Polaris officials also announced they will be creating The Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, a sort of hall of fame award that "will annually honour five albums from the five decades before Polaris launched in 2006." Details about the selection process for this prize are still to be revealed.

The Polaris Music Prize is modeled after United Kingdom/Ireland's Mercury Prize and in turn, inspired the Atlantis Music Prize for Newfoundland and Labrador.

The 2014 Polaris sponsors included Aux, FACTOR, Ontario Media Development Corporation, Slaight Communications, Radio Starmaker Fund, SiriusXM, Recording Artists' Collecting Society (RACS), Stingray Music/Galaxie, Long & McQuade, The Carlu and Ticketfly. Past sponsors have included Rogers Communications and Scion.

The Polaris Music Prize gala is video streamed live on CBC Music and AUX TV.

On July 16, 2015 it was announced children's entertainer Fred Penner will host the 2015 Polaris Gala taking place September 21, 2015 at The Carlu in Toronto.

On January 27, 2016 Polaris revealed its key dates for 2016. They are: June 15 Long List Reveal, July 14 Short List Reveal and September 19 Polaris Gala.

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 long list of 40 titles is tabulated, released in mid June and promoted to the public. The long list is then sent back to the jury. The jurors then re-submit five top picks from this long list.

These ballots are re-tabulated and the top ten titles form the Polaris short list. This list is released in early July and promoted to the public. 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. Grand jurors are selected so that each of the shortlisted albums has one person in the jury room to advocate for it; ten are selected on the basis of having named one of the shortlisted albums as their top pick in the balloting, while the remaining jury position is given to a person who had voted for none of the shortlisted albums.

Jurors are selected by the Polaris Music Prize board of directors. The jury list includes more than 200 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 music journalists, broadcasters and bloggers as judges is the increased media coverage and creates the conditions to draw attention to quality music in a cluttered commercial landscape and increasingly fractured music scene.

Notable jurors have included former MuchMusic VJs Hannah Sung and Hannah Simone, Toronto Star music columnists Ben Rayner and John Sakamoto, Darryl Sterdan (Winnipeg Sun), Mike Bell (Calgary Herald), Stuart Derdeyn (Vancouver Province), Stephen Cooke (The Chronicle Herald), T'Cha Dunlevy (Montreal Gazette), Sandra Sperounes (Edmonton Journal), Brad Wheeler (The Globe and Mail), Alan Ranta (Exclaim!), Explore Music broadcaster Alan Cross, CBC Radio personalities Jowi Taylor, Patti Schmidt, Jian Ghomeshi, Matt Galloway, Grant Lawrence, Lana Gay, Lisa Christiansen and Amanda Putz, Voir music journalists Stéphane Martel, Patrick Baillargeon and Olivier Robillard-Laveaux and The Hour host George Stroumboulopoulos.

On November 3, 2014 Jian Ghomeshi, the disgraced former CBC Q host and host of the very first Polaris Gala, was dropped from the Polaris juror pool. Polaris officials have made no official announcement on the subject.

In 2015, the Polaris jury also launched the Polaris Heritage Prize, an annual award program to honour classic Canadian albums released prior to the creation of the Polaris Prize. Each year, the Heritage Prize will present four awards to one album each from the 1960s/70s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000-2005.

Winners and short list nominees

Final Fantasy at the Polaris Music Prize gala in 2006

Patrick Watson at the Polaris Music Prize gala in 2007

Caribou at the Polaris Music Prize gala in 2008

Fucked Up at the Polaris Music Prize gala in 2009

Karkwa at the Polaris Music Prize gala in 2010

Arcade Fire at the Polaris Music Prize gala in 2011

Feist at the Polaris Music Prize gala in 2012

Constellation Records' Ian Ilavsky accepting 2013 Prize on behalf of Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Year	Winner	Shortlisted Nominees & Albums
2006	Final Fantasy – He Poos Clouds	Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene Cadence Weapon – Breaking Kayfabe The Deadly Snakes – Porcella Sarah Harmer – I'm a Mountain K'naan – The Dusty Foot Philosopher Malajube – Trompe-l'oeil Metric – Live It Out The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary
2007	Patrick Watson – Close to Paradise	Arcade Fire – Neon Bible The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse The Dears – Gang of Losers Julie Doiron – Woke Myself Up Feist – The Reminder Junior Boys – So This Is Goodbye Miracle Fortress – Five Roses Joel Plaskett Emergency – Ashtray Rock Chad VanGaalen – Skelliconnection
2008	Caribou – Andorra	Black Mountain – In the Future Basia Bulat – Oh, My Darling Kathleen Edwards – Asking for Flowers Holy Fuck – LP Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue Shad – The Old Prince Stars – In Our Bedroom After the War Two Hours Traffic – Little Jabs The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour
2009	Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life	Elliott Brood – Mountain Meadows Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels Hey Rosetta! – Into Your Lungs K'naan – Troubadour Malajube – Labyrinthes Metric – Fantasies Joel Plaskett – Three Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms
2010	Karkwa – Les Chemins de verre	The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record Caribou – Swim Dan Mangan – Nice, Nice, Very Nice Owen Pallett – Heartland Radio Radio – Belmundo Regal The Sadies – Darker Circles Shad – TSOL Tegan and Sara – Sainthood
2011	Arcade Fire – The Suburbs	Austra – Feel it Break Braids – Native Speaker Destroyer – Kaputt Galaxie – Tigre et diésel Hey Rosetta! – Seeds Ron Sexsmith – Long Player Late Bloomer Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges Timber Timbre – Creep On Creepin' On The Weeknd – House of Balloons
2012	Feist – Metals	Cadence Weapon – Hope in Dirt City Cold Specks – I Predict a Graceful Expulsion Drake – Take Care Kathleen Edwards – Voyageur Fucked Up – David Comes to Life Grimes – Visions Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital Japandroids – Celebration Rock Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – YT//ST
2013	Godspeed You! Black Emperor – 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!	Zaki Ibrahim – Every Opposite Metric – Synthetica METZ – METZ Purity Ring – Shrines Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light Tegan and Sara – Heartthrob A Tribe Called Red – Nation II Nation Whitehorse – The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss Young Galaxy – Ultramarine
2014	Tanya Tagaq – Animism	Arcade Fire – Reflektor Basia Bulat – Tall Tall Shadow Mac DeMarco – Salad Days Drake – Nothing Was the Same Jessy Lanza – Pull My Hair Back Owen Pallett – In Conflict Shad – Flying Colours Timber Timbre – Hot Dreams Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – UZU
2015	Buffy Sainte-Marie – Power in the Blood	Alvvays – Alvvays BadBadNotGood & Ghostface Killah – Sour Soul Braids – Deep in the Iris Caribou – Our Love Jennifer Castle – Pink City Drake – If You're Reading This It's Too Late Tobias Jesso Jr. – Goon The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers Viet Cong – Viet Cong
2016	TBA September 19, 2016	Black Mountain, IV Basia Bulat, Good Advice Grimes, Art Angels Carly Rae Jepsen, E•MO•TION Kaytranada, 99.9% Jessy Lanza, Oh No PUP, The Dream Is Over Andy Shauf, The Party U.S. Girls, Half Free White Lung, Paradise

Controversies

The Polaris Music Prize can be the subject of intense scrutiny from fans, media and music industry insiders. A number of recurring debates have emerged throughout Polaris' history. Some of these include: perception the prize is either too "indie" or too "mainstream," concern about gender balance amongst nominees and jurors, concern about racial balance amongst nominees and jurors, concern about geographical representation amongst nominees and jurors, and concern about fair representation of specific musical genres. These topics are discussed at length during the open-to-the-public "Polaris Salons" which usually feature Polaris jurors as panelists in various cities across North America during the lead-up to each year's Polaris Gala.

Polaris Prize winners are often the centre of specific controversies as well.

• 2014 During Tanya Tagaq's victory speech she declared "Fuck PETA," in reference to the organization for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Tagaq also used her gala performance and post-Polaris victory interviews as a platform to discuss the instances of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across Canada.
• 2013 Godspeed You! Black Emperor refused to attend the 2013 Polaris gala. So when the band won for their album Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!, representatives from their label Constellation Records accepted the $30,000 prize on their behalf. Constellation's Don Wilkie said in a statement, "Godspeed will use the prize money to purchase musical instruments for, and support organizations providing music lessons to, people incarcerated within the Quebec prison system." The next day the band released their own statement, saying "holding a gala during a time of austerity and normalized decline is a weird thing to do" and that "maybe the next celebration should happen in a cruddier hall, without the corporate banners and culture overlords." This was also the first year the Polaris winners were not presented with what had up until that point been a traditional giant novelty cheque to represent their victory. The presenting of the giant novelty cheque has since been discontinued.
• 2009 Publishing the words "Fucked Up." When Fucked Up won in 2009 many mainstream media outlets were forced to wrestle with how they'd present the band's name. The Canoe.ca news service used the headline "F***** Up (language alert , language alert below) wins the 2009 Polaris Music Prize on Monday night," The Globe and Mail went with "Toronto hardcore band wins Polaris Music Prize," while The New Yorker's "The Prize That Dare Not Speak Its Name" monitored what they called "semantic yoga."

Polaris Prize Music Releases

In 2006 compilation CD/souvenir program guides featuring one song each from every Short List artist were given out at the Polaris Gala. The same was done in 2007 with all Short List artists contributing to the compilation CD except Arcade Fire.

Between 2008–2011, the souvenir program guides instead included download cards for recipients to obtain one song from each of the nominated Short List artists.

Polaris began releasing promotional split seven-inch singles beginning in 2012 which were separate from the souvenir program guides. These singles were often given away through campaigns with independent record stores, via contests, at Polaris Salons, or at Polaris Galas.

2012

• Grimes "Genesis" + Handsome Furs "Serve The People" on grey vinyl
• Kathleen Edwards "Going to Hell" + Cold Specks "Blank Maps" on white vinyl
• Japandroids "The House That Heaven Built" + Cadence Weapon "Conditioning" on yellow vinyl
• Fucked Up "What Would You Do (For Veronica)?" + YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN "Queens" on orange-red vinyl

Feist and Drake did not participate.

2013

• Tegan And Sara "I Was A Fool" + A Tribe Called Red "The Road ft. Black Bear" on orange vinyl
• Zaki Ibrahim "Draw The Line" + Whitehorse "Achilles' Desire" on white vinyl
• Purity Ring "Fineshrine" + Colin Stetson "High Above A Grey Green Sea" on purple vinyl
• Metric "Dreams So Real" + Young Galaxy "Pretty Boy" on blue vinyl
• METZ "Get Off" on yellow vinyl

Godspeed You! Black Emperor did not participate.

2014

• YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN "Windflower" + Tanya Tagaq "Umingmak" on white vinyl
• Shad "Progress (Part 1: American Pie)" + Mac DeMarco "Brother" on red/orange vinyl
• Owen Pallett "The Riverbed" + Arcade Fire "Normal Person" on blue vinyl
• Basia Bulat "Never Let Me Go" + Timber Timbre "Grand Canyon" on yellow vinyl
• Jessy Lanza "Move Closer" (previously physically unreleased) on "trippy pattern" grey vinyl

Drake did not participate.

Additionally, Polaris, the Banff Centre and Scion Sessions teamed up for a collaborative residency project featuring past Short List artists Shad and Holy Fuck. The result was the Scion Sessions-sponsored Holy Shad "Legend of Cy Borg Parts I and II" seven-inch single as well as a documentary video produced by AUX TV.

Presentation Venues

• Phoenix Concert Theatre 2006–2008
• Masonic Temple (Toronto) 2009–2012
• The Carlu 2013–present

See also

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

External links

• Official Site