Jury

The heartbeat of Polaris Music Prize operations, the Polaris Jury is made up of 200+ music experts from across Canada and related unceded Indigenous lands. Jury members are selected annually by the Polaris Jury Foreperson and the Polaris administration team, and may include, but are not limited to journalists, broadcasters, bloggers, programmers, playlist creators, academics, podcasters, DJs and other active music scrutineers who display a wide breadth and depth of knowledge of Canadian music and passion for discovering new music. The jury’s collected expertise across region, genre, era and culture makes for a group that’s uniquely positioned to capture the pulse of the greater Canadian music universe. These volunteer jurors discuss and debate exceptional Canadian music year-round through various Polaris platforms, all with the goal of identifying and celebrating the best music this country has to offer.

Selection Criteria
Jurors evaluate music based on artistic merit. This includes the creativity, originality, and overall impact of the music. The aim is to identify music that stand out for their artistic contributions rather than their commercial success. “Artistic merit” is based on an individual determination by each member of the Jury. Some (but not all) factors jurors consider in making this determination for themselves include the music as a whole piece of work, the themes of the music, production, vocal performance, instrumental performance, and being of its time or being ahead of its time.

Jury Voting Process
All jury members submit a ballot indicating their Top 5 Albums and Songs of the year; the results form the Polaris Prize Album Long List and, after a second round of voting, the Polaris Album Prize Short List. A similar process takes place for the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize. An 11-member Grand Jury is selected each year to convene at the Polaris Concert & Award Show, where they determine the Polaris Prize Winners. To ensure an impartial outcome, no one with direct financial relationships with artists is eligible to become a jury member.

Joining the Jury
If you are actively involved in covering or filtering new and local Canadian music for print, radio, TV, or the web, we would be happy to consider you as a potential juror. Polaris seeks to include jurors from across the country who bring diverse musical perspectives and a dedication to artistic merit. The Jury application is HERE and applications are reviewed in October to December each year.

Jury Log In