Polaris Music Prize
Year Winner Category
2015 Joni Mitchell - Blue 1960-70s
2015 Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session 1980s
2015 Sloan - Twice Removed 1990s
2015 Peaches - The Teaches of Peaches 2000-05
2016 Neil Young - After the Gold Rush 1960-75 public vote
2016 Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen 1960-75 jury vote
2016 Rush - Moving Pictures 1976-85 public vote
2016 Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Kate & Anna McGarrigle 1976-85 jury vote
2016 Blue Rodeo - Five Days in July 1986-95 public vote
2016 Mary Margaret O'Hara - Miss America 1986-95 jury vote
2016 Arcade Fire - Funeral 1996-2005 public vote
2016 Lhasa de Sela - La Llorona 1996-2005 jury vote
2017 Gordon Lightfoot - Lightfoot ! 1960-75 public vote
2017 The Band - The Band 1960-75 jury vote
2017 Harmonium - L'Heptade 1976-85 public vote
2017 Glenn Gould - The Goldberg Variations 1976-85 jury vote
2017 The Tragically Hip - Fully Completely 1986-95 public vote
2017 Eric 's Trip - Love Tara 1986-95 jury vote
2017 Feist - Let It Die 1996-2005 public vote
2017 k-os - Joyful Rebellion 1996-2005 jury vote
Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize -- Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize winners
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, the Polaris Music Prize was increased to $50,000, an additional $20,000, sponsored by Slaight Music. Additionally, second place prizes for the nine other acts on the Short List increased from $2,000 to $3,000. Polaris officials also announced The Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, an 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 the United Kingdom/Ireland's Mercury Prize and in turn, inspired the Atlantis Music Prize/Borealis Music Prize for Newfoundland and Labrador. The 2018 Polaris sponsors include the CBC, the Government of Canada, FACTOR, Ontario Media Development Corporation, Slaight Communications, Radio Starmaker Fund, SiriusXM, Stingray Music/Galaxie, The Carlu, Shure Canada, Toronto radio station Indie88, SOCAN, and Re-Sound20. Past sponsors have included Rogers Communications and Scion. The Polaris Music Prize gala is video streamed live on CBC Music and, previously, AUX.