The Prism Prize is a national juried award recognizing the artistry of the modern music video in Canada. [1] A jury of over 120 Canadian music and film industry professionals, including members of the print and web media, broadcasting, film, radio, and video art communities, nominate the 10 best videos of the year to comprise the Prism Prize shortlist. [1] The winning video receives a cash prize of $20,000. [1] This is the richest cash prize for music videos in North America.
Founded by Louis Calabro in 2012, [2] the award is administered by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. [3]
The inaugural Prism Prize was awarded in March 2013 to director Noah Pink for Rich Aucoin’s "Brian Wilson Is A.L.I.V.E", while director Vincent Morisset took home the Audience Award for Arcade Fire’s "Sprawl II". [4]
For the second award presentation in 2014, the Prism Prize introduced two new awards, the Special Achievement Award for artistic achievements and exceptional contribution to music video art on a world stage, and the Arthur Lipsett Award for innovative and unique approaches to music video art. [5]
The 2014 Prism Prize was presented on March 23, 2014 to director Emily Kai Bock for her Arcade Fire "Afterlife" video. The Audience Award went to director Kheaven Lewandowski for his video for "River" by The Belle Game. [6] The Arthur Lipsett Award was presented to Scott Cudmore and Michael LeBlanc for their innovative video work. The Special Achievement Award went to Floria Sigismondi. [7]
In 2020 the committee introduced the Willie Dunn Award, a lifetime achievement award honouring Canadians who have been trailblazers in the art of music video. [8] The award was named in memory of Willie Dunn, an indigenous Canadian musician whose 1968 animated short film The Ballad of Crowfoot has sometimes been credited as the first Canadian music video. [8]
Nominees were announced on February 14, 2013, [9] and the winners were announced on March 24. [4]
Nominees were announced on February 18, 2014, [10] and the winners were announced on March 23. [10]
Nominees were announced on February 12, 2015, [12] and the winners were announced on March 29. [13]
Beginning in 2016, the prize revised its process. A longlist of 20 nominees was announced on February 9, 2016, [14] a shortlist of 10 finalists was announced on March 22, and the winner was named on May 15. [14]
The longlist for the 2020 Prism Prize was announced in February 2020, with the shortlist originally slated to be announced on April 2 and the winner to be announced on May 11. [16] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, however, the prize committee cancelled the May 11 event, and postponed the announcement of the winners to July 22 for the special awards, and July 23 for the topline categories. In addition, they opted not to issue a shortlist, instead announcing that all 20 longlisted nominees would be eligible for the final awards. [17]
The longlisted nominees for the 2021 Prism Prize were announced on April 29, 2021, [20] with the shortlist announced on June 9 and the winners announced on July 26.
SappyFest is an annual independent arts and music festival held in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. Started by Paul Henderson, Jon Claytor, and musician Julie Doiron as an extension of Sappy Records, the festival launched 2006.
Canadian singer and songwriter Lights has released six studio albums, three acoustic albums, eight extended plays, 39 singles, and 30 music videos. Lights began her career as a songwriter, penning songs for the television series Instant Star. She released a self-titled EP in 2008 on the independent record label Underground Operations. Two singles, "Drive My Soul" and "February Air", were released from the EP: "Drive My Soul" reached number 18 on the Canadian singles chart and was certified gold by Music Canada (MC).
Richard Aucoin is a Canadian musician, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
PUP is a Canadian punk rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario in 2010, originally under the name Topanga. PUP's debut album PUP was released on October 8, 2013, on Royal Mountain Records. In December 2013, PUP signed with SideOneDummy Records and re-released their debut album in the United States on April 8, 2014. The group was in the studio in late 2015 recording their second album The Dream Is Over which was released on May 27, 2016, through SideOneDummy. The band's third album, titled Morbid Stuff, was released on April 5, 2019. This Place Sucks Ass, a six-track EP, was released on October 27, 2020. Their fourth album, The Unraveling of PUPTheBand, was released on April 1, 2022.
Pemberton Music Festival was an annual four-day music festival that took place near Mount Currie in Pemberton, British Columbia. Produced by Huka Entertainment, the 2016 event took place on July 14–17. The festival features multiple stages of live entertainment, including rock, indie rock, hip hop, electronic, heavy metal, and comedy.
The 2016 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 19, 2016 at The Carlu event theatre in Toronto, Ontario. The hosts of the gala were broadcasters Tom Power and Amanda Parris.
Kevan Funk is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. His debut feature film, Hello Destroyer, was released in 2016.
The 2017 iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards were held on June 18, 2017, outside 299 Queen Street West in Toronto, Canada. It was hosted by Joe Jonas and Alessia Cara. Initial announcements were made on April 26, 2017. This is the final ceremony to be held in June and on Father's Day.
Jessica Reyez is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Her 2016 single "Figures" peaked at number 58 on the Canadian Hot 100 in 2017 and was certified triple Platinum by Music Canada and Platinum by the RIAA. Her 2017 EP, Kiddo, led to four nominations at the 2018 Juno Awards, winning Breakthrough Artist. Her follow up EP, Being Human in Public, was released in 2018. It won R&B/Soul Recording of the Year at the 2019 Juno Awards and was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards. Reyez again won the R&B/Soul Recording of the Year, for "Feel it Too" with Tory Lanez and Tainy, at the 2020 Juno Awards, where she was also nominated for Artist of the Year. Reyez has written songs for Calvin Harris, Kehlani, Dua Lipa, and Normani, most notably penning the hit "One Kiss", and has collaborated with Eminem on multiple occasions. Her debut album, Before Love Came to Kill Us, was released on March 27, 2020, to widespread critical acclaim, and saw commercial success, entering at number thirteen on the US Billboard 200.
Freudian is the debut studio album by Canadian singer and songwriter Daniel Caesar. It was released independently on August 25, 2017, by Golden Child Recordings, with distribution from TuneCore. It includes guest appearances from Kali Uchis, H.E.R., Syd, Charlotte Day Wilson and Sean Leon. Production derives from Caesar, Matthew Burnett, Jordan Evans, BadBadNotGood, Alex Ernewein, Riley Bell and Jordon Manswell. The album succeeds the 2015 EP Pilgrim's Paradise. The album was nominated for a Grammy in the Best R&B Album Category, alongside a nomination for Best R&B Performance with "Get You" at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, with "Best Part" with H.E.R. winning Best R&B Performance at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
Karena Evans is a Canadian director and actress. She garnered recognition for directing the music videos for Drake's 2018 Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles, "God's Plan", "Nice for What", and "In My Feelings". Evans won the 2018 Much Music Video Award for Best Director and became the first woman to receive the Prism Prize's Lipsett Award for music video direction.
Charlotte Day Wilson is a Canadian contemporary R&B singer-songwriter. She came to prominence in the mid-2010s with her single "Work" and collaborations with other Toronto-based artists like BadBadNotGood and Daniel Caesar. Wilson released her debut album Alpha in July 2021.
The 2019 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 16, 2019. Haviah Mighty won the $50,000 dollar prize for her debut album 13th Floor, becoming the first Black woman and first hip hop artist to win the prize.
Peter Huang is a music video director. He won the 2020 Prism Prize for directing the music video for Jessie Reyez's "Far Away". He had previously been shortlisted for the Prism Prize in 2018 and in 2019. He was also longlisted for the Prism Prize in 2017 and 2019. In 2017, Huang was nominated for four iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards: Video of the Year, Pop Video of the Year, and Fan Fave Video. For directing "Gatekeeper", Huang was also nominated for the 2018 Juno Award for Video of the Year and the music video was nominated for the 2018 MTV Video Music Award for Best Video with a Social Message.
Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux is a Canadian film director and editor from Vancouver, British Columbia. He is most noted as a two-time Juno Award nominee for Video of the Year, receiving nominations alongside Chandler Levack at the Juno Awards of 2015 for PUP's "Guilt Trip" and at the Juno Awards of 2016 for PUP's "Dark Days".
Chandler Levack is a Canadian writer and filmmaker. She is a two-time Juno Award nominee for Video of the Year, receiving nominations alongside Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux at the Juno Awards of 2015 for directing PUP's "Guilt Trip" music video, and at the Juno Awards of 2016 for directing PUP's "Dark Days" music video. She was also a Prism Prize nominee for both "Guilt Trip" and "Dark Days", and has also directed music videos for DZ Deathrays and Jeremy Dutcher.
Jared Raab is a Canadian writer and filmmaker, best known for his work on the television series Nirvanna the Band the Show.
Keavan Yazdani is a Grammy-nominated Canadian songwriter and multidisciplinary visual artist.
Kristof Brandl is a Canadian cinematographer and film director. He is most noted for his work on the film Falcon Lake, for which he received a Prix Iris nomination for Best Cinematography at the 25th Quebec Cinema Awards in 2023.
Harrison Robinson, mononymously known as Harrison, is a Canadian electronic musician from Toronto, Ontario. He is most noted as a two-time Juno Award nominee for Electronic Album of the Year, receiving nods at the Juno Awards of 2017 for Checkpoint Titanium and at the Juno Awards of 2024 for Birds, Bees, the Clouds and the Trees.