Traditional Album of the Year : This award recognizes solo artists, groups or duos. Instrumental or vocal traditional folk music is eligible. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the CONTEMPORARY ALBUM OF THE YEAR category.

Contemporary Album of the Year : This award recognizes solo artists, groups or duos. Instrumental or vocal contemporary folk music is eligible. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR category.

Children’s Album of the Year : This award recognizes solo artists, groups or duos. Eligible recordings must include repertoire that is obviously directed towards youth. Recordings containing stories or narratives are acceptable, but the majority of the tracks must be musical in nature.

Traditional Singer of the Year : This award recognizes a traditional solo vocalist, or a specified vocalist within a group. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the CONTEMPORARY SINGER OF THE YEAR category.

Contemporary Singer of the Year : This award recognizes a contemporary solo vocalist, or a specified vocalist within a group. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the TRADITIONAL SINGER OF THE YEAR category.

Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year : This award recognizes a solo artist. The majority of the submitted recording must be instrumental. Instrumental music from all folk genres, traditional and contemporary, is eligible. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR category.

Instrumental Group of the Year : This award recognizes a group or duo. The majority of the submitted recording must be instrumental. Instrumental music from all folk genres, traditional and contemporary, is eligible. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the INSTRUMENTAL SOLO ARTIST OF THE YEAR category.

Vocal Group of the Year : This award recognizes a group or duo that focuses on ensemble singing. The majority of the tracks on the submitted recording must be vocal numbers. Music from all folk genres, traditional and contemporary, is eligible.

Ensemble of the Year : This award recognizes a group or duo, either instrumental or instrumental/vocal. The submitted recording will be evaluated on all aspects of group playing, such as: instrumental expertise, vocal ability, strength and originality of arrangements, tightness of ensemble. Music from all folk genres, traditional and contemporary, is eligible.

Solo Artist of the Year : This award recognizes a solo artist. Instrumental or vocal music from all folk genres, traditional and contemporary, is eligible.

English Songwriter of the Year : This award recognizes the lyrical and melodic excellence of a recording of original songs written in English. In the case of collaborations, at least half of the songwriters involved must be Canadian.

French Songwriter of the Year : This award recognizes the lyrical and melodic excellence of a recording of original songs written in French. In the case of collaborations, at least half of the songwriters involved must be Canadian.

Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year : This award recognizes the lyrical and melodic excellence of a recording of original songs written in an Aboriginal language OR by an Aboriginal artist writing in English, French or an Aboriginal language. In the case of collaborations, at least half of the songwriters involved must be Canadian.

World Solo Artist of the Year : This award recognizes a solo artist. Instrumental or vocal world music is eligible. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the WORLD GROUP ARTIST OF THE YEAR category.

World Group of the Year : This award recognizes a group or duo. Instrumental or vocal world music is eligible. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the WORLD SOLO ARTIST OF THE YEAR category.

New/Emerging Artist of the Year : This award recognizes an up-and-coming artist, group or duo not nominated for any other major (national or international) music award in any prior year. Instrumental or vocal music from all folk genres, traditional and contemporary, is eligible.

Producer of the Year : This award recognizes excellence in craft through acknowledgment of the individual(s) who produce recordings.  The submission must be from the producer(s) A letter of support from the artist(s) involved is encouraged but not necessary. A maximum of 2 releases per producer or team of producers can be submitted and International releases are permitted.  In the case of collaborations, at least half of the team must be Canadian.

Pushing the Boundaries : This award recognizes a solo artist, duo or group taking creative risks to create folk-based music that is innovative, original and imaginative.

Young Performer of the Year : Young Performer of the Year : This award recognizes a young (19 or under) solo artist, group or duo. Submitting artists must be 19 years of age at the time of recording.. In the case of group submissions, all members must fulfill the age requirement. Music from all folk genres is eligible. Submissions must include either a commercial CD (as defined in the section on “Recording Eligibility”) or, in recognition of the fact that many young performers have not released commercial recordings, a three-track demo recorded on a disc. The submission must also include the birthdates of the submitting artists as well as a time line of the recording to demonstrate compliance with the category age requirement.

Unsung Hero : NEW CATEGORY This is an annual award recognizing the exceptional contribution of an individual, group, or organization to any aspect of the Canadian folk music scene (performance, promotion, presentation, etc). Nominations from the public will be accepted for this category by the CFMAS from the region where the  awards will take place. Complete details and submission info here.

WORLD MUSIC CATEGORIES : World artists are not limited to the World Artist categories. They may submit to all categories for which they are eligible (e.g., all traditional and contemporary categories, instrumentalist of the year, etc.).

SONGWRITER CATEGORIES : Artists may submit a recording to only one of the three song-writing categories. In the case of recordings with tracks written in multiple languages, the artist must select the category that best represents the recording.