Karkwa to Receive Polaris Music Prize for Best Canadian Album, 9/21

Karkwa was named the winner of the fifth annual Polaris Music Prize. This award, given to signify the best Canadian album of the year, was presented tonight at the gala ceremony held at CTV's Concert Hall at the Masonic Temple in Toronto. In addition to bragging rights, Karkwa take home $20,000 for their album Les Chemins de Verre.

"It's an unbelievable thing to win this prize. We have a lot of respect for this contest and we think they do it for the right reason (music). On suit le gala depuis son début, et c'est le prix qui nous touche le plus." - Karkwa

Karkwa joins the group of previous winners which includes Fucked Up (2009), Caribou (2008), Patrick Watson (2007) and Final Fantasy (2006). Their win is the first for a French language album.

The process of voting begins with the almost 200 member jury. These music journalists, bloggers, and broadcasters cast ballots for the 40 title Long List and 10 title Short List of Canadian albums released between June 1, 2009 and May 31, 2010. The 11 member gala Grand Jury, chosen from the larger jury, was sequestered in the Masonic Temple jury room to select a winner while the event took place.

Liisa Ladouceur, who oversees the Grand Jury, spoke about this year's decision.

"This was probably the longest and most emotional deliberation in Polaris history. The short listed records are all of extreme high quality and they truly resonated with members of the jury whether or not they completely understood the language of the lyrics," reflected Liisa Ladouceur. "What this year's winner indicates is that music is about emotion."

The Grand Jury this year are Rob Bowman (York University professor), Jennifer Charlesworth (The Georgia Straight), Leah Collins (Dose.ca), Del Cowie (Exclaim), Jonathan Dekel (Spinner), Amanda Farrell-Low (Monday Magazine), Jian Ghomeshi (CBC Q), Marc Xavier Leblanc (freelance journalist and DJ), Francois Marchand (Vancouver Sun), Andre Peloquin (Bang Bang) and Phillipe Rezzonico (Rue Frontenac).

Ten albums were shortlisted for the 2010 Polaris Prize. They are:

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
Caribou - Swim
Karkwa - Les Chemins De Verre
Dan Mangan - Nice, Nice, Very Nice
Owen Pallett - Heartland
Radio Radio - Belmundo Regal
The Sadies - Darker Circles
Shad - TSOL
Tegan And Sara - Sainthood

The gala was hosted by CBC Radio 3's Grant Lawrence and MuchMusic's Sarah Taylor. Sirius Satellite Radio and Radio 3 broadcast the event live across North America on Sirius channel 86, and around the world on the web at radio3.cbc.ca. The gala was also webcast live on muchmusic.com and will be broadcast Saturday September 25, 9pm ET on MuchMusic with repeat airings on MUCHMORE Thursday, September 30th @ 10pm, MTV2, Friday Oct 1st @11pm ET and Saturday, October 2nd, @ 10am ET, and BRAVO, Monday, September 27th @ 10PM & 1AM and Tuesday, September 28th @ 9AM ET .

The Polaris Music Prize is a not-for-profit organization that annually honours, celebrates and rewards creativity and diversity in Canadian recorded music by recognizing and marketing the albums of the highest artistic integrity, without regard to musical genre, professional affiliation, or sales history, as judged by a panel of selected music critics. For further information, including rules, jury and sponsors, please visit www.polarismusicprize.ca.