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 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.

2006 Polaris Music Prize

The inaugural edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize presented on September 18, 2006, at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre. The winning album was Final Fantasy's He Poos Clouds.

Nominees

The prize's list of 10 finalist albums, chosen from an initial list of 165 nominees, was announced on July 4.

Final Fantasy, He Poos Clouds

Album

A compilation album featuring tracks from the ten nominated albums was also released.

Track listing

2010 Polaris Music Prize

The 2010 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 20, 2010. The gala presentation was held at Toronto's Masonic Temple, and was hosted by Grant Lawrence of CBC Radio 3 and Sarah Taylor of MuchMusic.

The winning album, Karkwa's Les Chemins de verre, was the first French language album to win the award.

Jury

The grand jury for the 2010 award included Rob Bowman (York University), Jenny Charlesworth (The Georgia Straight), Leah Collins (Dose.ca), Del Cowie (Exclaim!), Jonathan Dekel (Spinner.ca), Amanda Farrell (Monday Magazine), Jian Ghomeshi (CBC Radio), Marc Xavier Leblanc (freelance journalist and DJ), François Marchand (Vancouver Sun), André Peloquin (BangBang) and Philippe Rezzonico (Rue Frontenac).

Shortlist

The prize's 10-album shortlist was announced on July 6.

Karkwa, Les Chemins de verre

2014 Polaris Music Prize

The 2014 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 22, 2014 at The Carlu event theatre in Toronto, Ontario. Actor Jay Baruchel was the host of the ceremony.

The grand jury for the 2014 award consisted of Adam Bowie of The Daily Gleaner, Lorraine Carpenter of CultMTL, Stephen Cooke of the Chronicle-Herald, Jessica Émond-Ferrat of Métro's Montreal edition, Luke Fox of Exclaim!, Melody Lau of Much, Julia LeConte of NOW, Stephanie McKay of the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Mark Teo of Aux, and freelance music journalists Liisa Ladouceur and Alan Ranta.

Tanya Tagaq won the award for her album Animism. During the gala before the award winner was announced, Tagaq had given what was widely considered the standout performance of the evening, performing in front of a scrolling list of names of missing and murdered aboriginal women and garnering the event's only standing ovation.

Shortlist

The ten-album shortlist was announced on July 15.

Tanya Tagaq, Animism