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 regarding eligibility can be sent to info@folkawards.ca.
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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. 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. 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 traditional folk music 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. 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 minimum of 75% of the 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 CATEGORIES:
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 Solo Artist of the Year: This award recognizes a solo artist or specified solo artist within a group. 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.
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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. The majority (75%) 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 (75%) 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.
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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, traditional and contemporary, is eligible.
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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. The majority (75%) of the tracks on the submitted recording must be vocal numbers. Music from all folk genres, traditional and contemporary, is eligible.
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Solo Artist of the Year: This award recognizes a solo artist. Instrumental or vocal music from all folk genres, traditional and contemporary, is eligible.
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New/Emerging Artist 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, traditional and contemporary, is eligible. 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 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.
