Polaris Music Prize

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 [cite web|url=http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2006/06/0211.cfm|title=The Polaris Music Prize Will Go To Canada's Best Album |accessdate=July 4|accessyear=2006] . The award is sponsored by Rogers, Sirius Satellite Radio, Government of Canada, Nokia, Canadian Recording Industry Association, FACTOR, MySpace Canada, Slaight Communications and The Drake Hotel.

The Polaris Music Prize gala is broadcast live via CBC Radio 3 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 "Long List” of every eligible album is then sent back to the jury. The jurors then re-submit five top picks from this "Long List." These ballots are retabulated and the top ten titles form the Polaris Short List.

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. The 2008 Gala is set for September 29th and will take place at the Phoenix Concert Theatre. While invited guests are celebrating the talent on The Short List and live performances of some of the nominees, the grand jury will be in an adjacent room debating and ultimately voting (in a secret ballot) to decide which artist receives the $20,000 Prize. No one at the Gala will know who will win the prize until it's announced at the end of the evening, not even the jury themselves.

The 2008 Grand Jury members are:
* Mike Bell, "Calgary Herald" - (Calgary)
* Denise Benson, "Eye Weekly" - (Toronto)
* Evelyn Cote, "Ici" - (Montréal)
* Lana Gay, "CBC radio3" - (Vancouver)
* Kevin Kelly, "Newfoundland Herald" - (St. John's)
* Joshua Ostroff, "AOL Canada" - (Toronto)
* James Stewart Reaney, "London Free Press" - (London)
* Li Robbins, "CBC Radio/Globe And Mail" - (Toronto)
* Hannah Simone, "MuchMusic" - (Toronto)
* Darryl Sterdan, "Winnipeg Sun" - (Winnipeg)
* Frank Yang, " [http://www.chromewaves.net/ Chromewaves] " - (Toronto)

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. [cite web|url=http://music.aol.ca/article/predicting-polaris-picking-canadas-best-album/357515|title=Predicting Polaris: Picking Canada's Best Album|accessdate=September 26|accessyear=2008]

Notable jurors have included former MuchMusic VJ Hannah Sung, "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 and Amanda Putz, "Voir" music journalists Stéphane Martel, Patrick Baillargeon and Olivier Robillard-Laveaux and "" host George Stroumboulopoulos.

Winner by year

* 2006 - Final Fantasy, "He Poos Clouds"
* 2007 - Patrick Watson, "Close to Paradise"
* 2008 - Caribou, "Andorra"

hortlist by year

2008
*Black Mountain - "In the Future"
*Basia Bulat - "Oh, My Darling"
*Caribou - "Andorra"
*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"

2007
*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 - "Ashtray Rock"
*Chad VanGaalen - "Skelliconnection"
*Patrick Watson - "Close to Paradise"

2006
*Broken Social Scene - "Broken Social Scene"
*Cadence Weapon - "Breaking Kayfabe"
*The Deadly Snakes - "Porcella"
*Final Fantasy - "He Poos Clouds"
*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"

ee also

* Mercury Music Prize (United Kingdom)
* Shortlist Prize (United States)
* Choice Music Prize (Republic of Ireland)

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.polarismusicprize.ca/ Official site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/polarismusicprize/ MySpace site]
* [http://www.soundproofmagazine.com/search_results.php?keyword=Polaris&type=basic&submit.x=0&submit.y=0 SoundProof Magazine Article 2008]