The Canadian Folk Music Awards welcomes submissions from musicians at any stage of their career. In each category, a blind jury will listen to each submission and will make selections based on the merit of the submission alone.
With exception of Single of the Year, all categories are for full-length albums. See our
Eligibility Page for more details.
All submissions must adhere to the criteria and submission requirements outlined by the Canadian Folk Music Awards.
The following criteria may be used as a guideline for submissions. Questions can be sent to info@folkawards.ca.
New Categories for CFMAs 2021!
Single of the Year
This award recognizes an artist or group, and their producer(s) for Single of the Year. It is open to all folk genres, songs and instrumentals, recognizing single release recordings, or a track from an album which has been released as a single. See our Eligibility Page for more details.
World Music Album of the Year
(in place of World Solo Artist of the Year, and World Group of the Year)
This award recognizes solo artists, groups or duos. Instrumental or vocal world music influenced by world folk music styles, repertoire and musical structures, is eligible. See below for more category details.
Single of the Year: This award recognizes an artist or group, and their producer(s) for Folk Single of the Year. It is open to all folk genres, songs and instrumentals, recognizing single release recordings, or a track from an album which has been released as a single. See our Eligibility page for more details.
CONTEMPORARY CATEGORIES:
This is how we define the term Contemporary Folk Music:
The Contemporary Folk Music genre consists of recently composed vocal or instrumental music influenced by folk music styles, repertoire and musical structures. It has often, but not always, been composed by the submitting artist.
Contemporary Album of the Year: This award recognizes solo artists, groups or duos. Instrumental or vocal contemporary folk music is eligible. Contemporary folk music consisting of recently composed vocal or instrumental music, influenced by folk music styles, repertoire and musical structures, is eligible. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR category.
Contemporary Singer of the Year: This award recognizes a contemporary solo vocalist, or a specified vocalist within a group, who is featured on a majority of the album’s tracks. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the TRADITIONAL SINGER OF THE YEAR category.
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TRADITIONAL CATEGORIES:
This is how we define the term Traditional Folk Music:
The Traditional Folk Music genre consists of music from instrumental and song traditions that are specific to a cultural or ethnic group. It is generally acknowledged that the repertoire and stylistic elements of ethnically based traditional music have been shaped through oral transmission, a process that can take place over a period of years. While a great deal of traditional repertoire consists of older songs and tunes, our definition does not exclude recent compositions which come to artists through the oral tradition, or which model themselves on specific traditional musical structures (e.g., recently composed jigs and reels). Submissions to any category described as traditional must show musical links (through repertoire and/or performance style) to a specific ethnically or culturally based tradition (e.g., Irish, French, Scottish, Bluegrass, Klezmer, Aboriginal, Blues, tradition-based World music, etc.).
Traditional Album of the Year: This award recognizes solo artists, groups or duos. Instrumental or vocal, including recent material, influenced by traditional folk music styles, repertoire and musical structures, is eligible. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the CONTEMPORARY ALBUM OF THE YEAR category.
Traditional Singer of the Year: This award recognizes a traditional solo vocalist, or a specified vocalist within a group, who is featured on a majority of the album’s tracks. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the CONTEMPORARY SINGER OF THE YEAR category.
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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.
- Songwriter(s) must account for a majority of the album’s tracks.
- In the case of collaborations, at least half of the songwriters involved must be Canadian.
English Songwriter(s) of the Year: This award recognizes the lyrical and melodic excellence of a recording of original songs written in English.
French Songwriter(s) of the Year: This award recognizes the lyrical and melodic excellence of a recording of original songs written in French.
Indigenous Songwriter(s) of the Year: This award recognizes the lyrical and melodic excellence of a recording of original songs written in an Indigenous language OR by an Indigenous artist writing in English, French or an Indigenous language. ___________________________________________________________________
WORLD MUSIC:
This is how we define the term World Music:
The term world music in Canada suggests that artists within this genre come from “world cultures” separate and apart from the dominant ethnicities within Canada, such as the English, French and Indigenous cultures. World music is also recognized as a genre that fuses music from different ethnic or stylistic sources. All submissions to the world music categories must demonstrate a “world perspective” and come from recent immigrant cultures (eg. Asian, African, Caribbean, South American, South Pacific, etc.) or from artists that create music from a variety of cultural sources and / or styles.
- 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.).
World Music Album of the Year (in place of World Solo Artist of the Year, and World Group of the Year)
This award recognizes solo artists, groups or duos. Instrumental or vocal world music influenced by world folk music styles, repertoire and musical structures, is eligible. Recordings submitted to this category can also be submitted to the CONTEMPORARY ALBUM OF THE YEAR or TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR.
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INSTRUMENTAL CATEGORIES
Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year : This award recognizes a solo artist, or a specified solo artist in a group. Recordings must feature Instrumental music on a majority of tracks. Instrumental music from all folk genres is eligible, including traditional, contemporary and world music. 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. Recordings must feature Instrumental music on a majority of tracks. Instrumental music from all folk genres is eligible, including traditional, contemporary and world music. Recordings submitted to this category cannot be submitted to the INSTRUMENTAL SOLO ARTIST OF THE YEAR category.
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Ensemble of the Year: This award recognizes a group or duo, either instrumental or instrumental/vocal. Based on instrumental expertise, vocal ability, strength and originality of arrangements, tightness of ensemble. Music from all folk genres is eligible, including traditional, contemporary and world music.
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Children’s Album of the Year: This award recognizes solo artists, groups or duos. Eligible recordings must include repertoire that is obviously directed towards children. Recordings containing stories or narratives are acceptable, but the majority of the tracks must be musical in nature.
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Vocal Group of the Year: This award recognizes a group or duo that focuses on ensemble singing. Vocal numbers must be featured on a majority of the album’s tracks. Music from all folk genres is eligible, including traditional, contemporary and world music.
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Solo Artist of the Year: This award recognizes a solo artist. Instrumental or vocal music from all folk genres is eligible, including traditional, contemporary and world music.
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New/Emerging Artist(s) of the Year: This award recognizes an 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 is eligible, including traditional, contemporary and world music. For clarification, as a general guideline, we would consider “national” to include, but not be limited to, the following entities: CFMAs, JUNOs, Indigenous Music Awards, Canadian Country Music Association awards, Polaris (short list only). Despite their national media exposure, we do not consider the following as constituting “national” under our guidelines: any provincial or regional award entities, such as: East Coast Music Awards, the Felix Awards in Quebec, The Western Canadian Music Awards.
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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.
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Young Performer(s) of the Year : This award recognizes a solo artist, group or duo 19 years of age or younger at the time of recording. In the case of group submissions, the recording must clearly spotlight the young performer. Music from all folk genres is eligible. Submissions must include either a commercial recording (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. The submission must also include the birth dates of the submitting artists as well as a time line of the recording to demonstrate compliance with the category age requirement.
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Producer(s) of the Year : This award recognizes excellence in craft through acknowledgment of the individual(s) who produce recordings. A maximum of 3 releases per producer or team of producers can be submitted per year. International releases are permitted. In the case of collaborations, at least half of the team must be Canadian.
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Unsung Hero : This award recognizes 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. Complete details and submission info here.
