On June 14th, the preliminary nominees for the Polaris Music Prize, an annual award for Canada’s best album of the year, were released. The Weeknd, Arcade Fire, Destroyer, and Tanya Tagaq, as well as Julie Doiron, Orville Peck, PUP, and the 2020 winner Backxwash, made the cut. The nominees are determined by a panel of writers, programmers, and broadcasters, and the winners are announced in September.
A 197-member panel assessed 223 records for this year’s prize, according to a statement; a shortlist will be released next month. The award comes with a $50,000 reward for the winner. Last year, Cadence Weapon’s Parallel World won the prize.
