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Women in Music Canada Honours - March 6, 2025

Submissions NOW OPEN  - SUBMIT HERE

We will see you March 06, 2025 for the WIM Canada Honours Night. 


ABOUT WOMEN IN MUSIC CANADA HONOURS

The Women in Music Canada Honours program celebrates and supports women and gender diverse Canadian innovators and creators who have had outstanding success in their field in the eligibility year (December 2023 through December 2024 for annual based categories).

Submissions must be made through WIMCanada’s application form by the deadline (Friday, December 13, 2024 at 11:59 PM ET). Submissions may be made by the prospective honouree or another Canadian colleague. Only one submission is required to be considered. If multiple submissions are received for the same person, they will be combined to one submission for the jury review. The Honours recipients will be announced at a reception dinner and showcase program March 6, 2025. Stay tuned for more details on the event and tickets.

Women in Music Canada values diversity, equity and inclusion, and welcomes applications from innovators and creators from diverse backgrounds.


WOMEN IN MUSIC CANADA HONOURS CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS 

Please read carefully as edits have been made from the 2024 year to clarify certain criteria.

The recipient of this category will be selected from the shared results of jury and open voting by Women in Music Canada membership. 

Artist of the Year  - Presented by Amazon Music

This honour recognizes a woman or gender diverse artist whose music demonstrates excellence with an exceptional year as a result of radio chart successes, media exposure, industry recognition, and/or touring success. Artists considered in this category may be at any stage of their music career, with success in the timeframe of the award eligibility being the primary measure of adjudication. Artists may only be honoured with this category once.

The recipient of the following categories will be selected from the results of a diverse jury of industry leaders from the Women in Music Canada membership.

Change Maker of the Year - Presented by National Arts Centre

This honours a woman or gender diverse industry member who is creating change through their leadership (aligning collective direction and motivating people toward strategic goals) and mentorship (supporting and sharing expertise with other women and gender diverse professionals to reach their goals). 

While the recipient may be a company owner, this is not a requirement and the recognition is intended specifically for their individual leadership initiative and successes. Active engagement with the music community should be visible on an ongoing basis. Testimonials, past achievements, and ongoing projects can all be included in this submission. Submissions will be juried primarily on professional activity occurring within one year of the submission deadline however long term initiative information may be submitted.

Entrepreneur of the Year

This honour is given to a music industry company owner or co-owner making significant strides in diversity in the workplace. The intent of the award is to recognize the success of a company owner who is a women and/or gender diverse individual. Their company may be of any size. While the successes may be a compilation of the work of the team, and the honour and the honour may recognize a partnership (two individuals) only one physical award is presented. 

This category is recognized annually but is not restricted to considering the work of the entrepreneur in the eligibility year. It is in recognition of their career as an entrepreneur thus far.

Excellence in Live Music 

This honour recognizes a women or gender diverse music professional working in a live production or touring environment making significant impact in their field: Includes tour/operations/promotions management, talent buyers, venue owners, or music event producers, tour assistant, backstage, road crew, and other related support roles. The winner will be one who prioritizes gender equity in their programming and team. This honour is not intended for artists based on their live performance.

International Leader of the Year 

This honours a Canadian woman or gender diverse industry member, making great strides outside of Canada. The recipient's work may be seen as significant on a world stage, or to the community they serve. This honour may be given to an artist but is not performance based. The focus must be on their work beyond their performance but in service to a community. 

Organization of the Year

This honour is given to an organization or company making significant strides in equity in the workplace. The intent of the award is to go to an organization or company owned or primarily run by women and/or gender diverse individuals, however it may also commend allies who are part of the company. This may be an organization or company of any size. While the company successes may be a compilation of the work of the team, only one physical award is presented under the name of the organization or company.

Career Achievement Honour  (Formerly Trailblazer)

This category will recognize up to five women / gender diverse industry professionals or creators who have made significant impact paving the way for a more equitable community. This award is intended for folks who have been working in the music industry for 20 + years.  

New in 2025, nominees will not be announced for this category. Only recipients will be announced.

Women in Music Canada Rising Leader 

This category will recognize up to five women / gender diverse industry professionals or creators who are in the early stages of their career and showing success and growth in their work. These are the list of folks to watch for in the coming years. This honour is intended to highlight new Canadian innovators and creators in music.


Nomination & Selection Process

Candidates from all areas of the music industry and all genres of music are welcome to apply. Eligible applications will be considered by a jury of professional Canadian music industry leaders and creators appointed by Women in Music Canada. Excellence demonstrated through Industry success and artistic merit will be an overriding consideration in the adjudication, in addition to thoughtful demonstration of how the Honour would help advance the applicant’s career. The jury committee reserves the right to recategorize a submission at their sole discretion if they feel the applicant is more suited to a different Honour. All jury’s decisions are final.

Each submission will be screened upon completion to ensure that it is complete and meets all eligibility requirements. Any submissions that are incomplete or ineligible will be disqualified. 

Eligibility Criteria

The mandate of Women in Music Canada is to support women and gender diverse artists and companies who reside in Canada a majority of the time and as such contribute to healthy and thriving music communities in the region. As such, all Honours nominees must be residents of Canada for at least six months in the eligibility period. The exception to this is for the International Leader of the Year, who may or may not reside in Canada, but must be a Canadian demonstrating international success. 

  • For a group,  50% of group members must meet residency requirements. 
  • For a company, they must have registration in a Canadian province or national registration with an office / or key staff person (for remote offices) in Canada. 
  • For international companies, the Honour goes to the Canadian branch. 
  • Proof of residency may be requested.

Minimum Number of Submissions

There must be a minimum of four (4) submissions for a category to proceed in any year. If four (4) submissions were not received for a particular category, that category is skipped for that year and nominees can resubmit their album the following year.

Promotion

Women in Music Canada have the right (but not the obligation, as applicable) to:
  • Publish the names of the Awards finalists and recipients on Women In Music Canada and award partner websites, accounts on social media platforms and any other channels; and
  • Promote the Award recipients through various platforms and channels that are not within the control of either Organizer, including but not limited to social media platforms, all without any lability, compensation or obligation whatsoever to any applicant.
  • Cancel the Honours at any time without awarding any of the award prizes if unforeseen circumstances arise.

Residency Requirements

The mandate of Women in Music Canada is to support women and gender diverse artists and companies who reside in Canada a majority of the time and as such contribute to healthy and thriving music communities in the region. As such, all Honours nominees must be residents of Canada for at least six months between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2023. 
  • For a group,  50% of group members must meet residency requirements. 
  • For a company, they must have registration in a Canadian province or national registration with an office / or key staff person (for remote offices) in Canada. 
  • For international companies, the Honour goes to the Canadian branch. 
  • Proof of residency may be requested.

Nomination & Submission Deadline

  • Submissions Open: 11:00 a.m. ET on Friday, October 18 , 2024
  • Submissions Close: 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, December 13, 2024

Instructions for Submitting an Entry

  • All complete submission to the awards will be reviewed by the jury. 
  • Artists submitting must include links to at least two publicly released songs for adjudication.
  • There are no release date requirements for tracks submitted for artist consideration, however review of merit for artistic categories will focus on the year December 1, 2023 through December 31, 2024. 
  • All submissions are accepted online only. 
  • One submission must be completed for each category submitting to.
  • Read all guidelines and category requirements prior to submission to ensure eligibility.
  • Please complete submissions accurately and in full. Submitted information is what jurors consider when adjudicating final completed submissions.
  • It is highly recommended that applications be submitted well before the deadline to ensure there are no unforeseen issues at the time of submission. Late applications due to technical issues within 24 hours of the deadline will not be considered acceptable grounds for late submission and may lead to your application not being considered for the current year.

Nomination & Submission in Successive Years

Submissions can be made for the same person or company in successive years, however an Honouree will not be recognized more than once in the same category.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do I have to be a member of Women in Music Canada to submit to WIMC Honours?

No. It is recommended that nominees and those submitting be a national member or a member of a regional WIMC chapter but it is not required. 

2. How are the jurors selected?

  • Anyone may show interest in becomming a juror through the jury intake form on this site. Completing the application / expression of interest does not guarentee you will be selected as a juror as the selection will consider many factors such as (bt not limited to) fit with categories, avoidance of potental conflict, diversity of jurors in every category.
  • The Women In Music Canada Honours jury will consist of a diverse group of invested music community members who are void of conflicts in the process and knowledgeable of the Canadian music industry.
  • Women In Music Canada staff members are not allowed to sit as jurors or to influence the decisions of the juries.
  • The results from the jury will be reviewed by the WIMC Board Honours Committee to elect final recipients with consideration of all jury results and may consider also ensuring a diverse mix of recipients to represent the successes in the given year. 

3. Why are there not more award categories?

The categories launched are the total eligible for 2025. If you want to propose a new category or area of artistry/industry that is not represented, please send a brief proposal to robyn@womeninmusic.ca for consideration for subsequent years.

If you have any questions that are not answered above, please contact robyn@womeninmusic.ca.


WIM CANADA HONOURS JURY

Intake for the 2025 Honours Jury is now open. 

To assist in the fair and transparent process of reviewing submissions for Women in Music Canada Honours categories, we will engage approximately 25 jurors from across the Canadian music industry.

Jurors will be asked to consider excellence demonstrated through Industry success and artistic merit in adjudication, in addition to thoughtful demonstration of how the Honour would help advance the applicant’s career. The WIMC jury team reserves the right to recommend a recategorization of a submission to the WIMC Director if they feel the applicant is more suited to a different Honour. All WIMC Honours Committee decisions are final.

In advance of passing materials along to the Jury, each submission will be screened upon completion to ensure that it is complete and meets all eligibility requirements. Any submissions that are incomplete or ineligible will be disqualified. 

Each jury member will be asked to adjudicate one to three categories (depending on the application numbers for each), with care to not be reviewing categories in which they had conflict of interest. 

Jurors will be paid a $150 honourarium for their time. 

Interested in sharing your expertise as a juror? 

Please note: All jurors review categories in which they did not have conflicts with nominees. If a juor is noiminated, they will not be assigned to review and vote on that category. 

All honours Categories are reviewed by a jury of peers and then reviwed by the Women in Music Canada Honours Committee.