Halifax-based musicians, the multi-genre Aquakulture and rocker Joel Plaskett, are two of the artists with albums on this year’s Polaris Prize Long List.
Announced via a video broadcast by past winners on social media earlier this week, the two are vying for this year’s $50,000 Polaris Music Prize.
A total of 223 albums were considered for this year’s Long List by a jury made up of music journalists, broadcasters and bloggers from across Canada selected based solely on artistic merit, without consideration for genre or record sales.
In a Tweet, Aquakulture acknowledged the recognition for the album Legacy by pointing out his wife and his sometime collaborator Ghettosocks created the album’s cover.
Artwork by my wife Joolsannie & @GHETTOSOCKS https://t.co/7W0XsZhOeO
— Aquakultre (@aquakultre) June 15, 2020
Plaskett, nominated for his album 44, acknowledged the other nominees.
Great to see '44' on the @PolarisPrize Long List along side all these great records!
Congratulations to all the nominees.https://t.co/uUIIe0r6ii— Joel Plaskett (@joelplaskett) June 15, 2020
The ten album Polaris Prize Short List will be unveiled on July 15 as chosen by eleven jurists selected from the larger jury pool. The winner will take home the $50,000 top cash prize and the other nine each receiving $3,000 each.
Past winners of the Polaris Prize have included Jeremy Dutcher, Fiest, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tanya Tagaq and Arcade Fire.