2016 JUNO Awards now accepting submissions for Aboriginal Album of the Year

Submissions to the 2016 JUNO Awards are now open! The Aboriginal Album of the Year award celebrates the best music from Indigenous artists in Canada. Get in there!

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) announced on October 1 that the JUNO Awards is now accepting submissions for Aboriginal Album of the Year (sponsored by Aboriginal Peoples Television Network).

The category is open to albums released by Canadian citizens between September 1, 2014 and November 13, 2015. With respect to album length, a project that is 20 minutes or six unique songs is now considered a full album and is eligible for the Aboriginal Album of the Year category. The early bird submission deadline is 5:00 p.m. EST on October 23, 2015. The final submission deadline is 5:00 p.m. EST on November 13, 2015.

From our friends at ammb.ca:

"Winning the Aboriginal Album of the Year at the JUNOS was a long standing dream of mine," says 2015 category winner Tanya Tagaq. "Being nominated among my peers gives a sense of warmth, celebration, and team work that is rarely found in a competition based system. Support our communities by submitting yourself or a friend. Our music is crucial."

Eligible music styles include all traditional Aboriginal music: Iroquois, Social Pow Wow Drum (I.e. Sioux, Assiniboine, Cree, Ojibway & Blackfoot, etc.); all Hand Drums (e.g. Inuit, Dene, Cree, Mic Mak, West Coast, etc.); Inuit Throat Singing; Traditional Flutes; Metis, Cree & Mic Mac Fiddling. In addition, fusions of all genres of contemporary music that incorporate the above and/or reflect the unique Aboriginal experience in Canada, by virtue of words or music.

Visit junoawards.ca/submissions for details and to complete your online submission.

Nominees will be announced on February 2, 2016 at the JUNO Nominee Press Conference, the 2016 festivities will be hosted in Calgary with JUNO Week running from March 28 to April 3, and the awards will be broadcast on CTV from The Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday, April 3, 2016. See you there!

2012 Juno Awards and Aboriginal Nominees

Canada's annual celebration of artistic and technical achievements in music, the JUNOS, announced the 2012 nominees yesterday. Here are the Indigenous artists in the running!

The "Canadian Grammys" - chosen by members of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences or determined by sales or a panel of experts - cover 44 "best of" categories. This year, the celebration will be hosted by William Shatner at the Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario.

The most notable Aboriginal presence at the JUNOs is the Aboriginal Album of the Year award - the existence of which is at times contentious in the community as, unlike the other award categories, it is not genre specific. It does however acknowledge and celebrate music made by Aboriginal artists, in any genre, and we're sending heartfelt congratulations to those nominated this year!

That said, Métis country star Terri Clarke is nominated in the Country Album of the Year category - congrats Terri!

Here are the nominees for Aboriginal Album of the Year, 2012:

Bruthers of Different Muthers Speakers of Tomorrow

Donny Parenteau To Whom It May Concern

Flying Down Thunder and Rise Ashen One Nation

Murray Porter Songs Lived & Life Played

Randy Wood The Gift of Life