The SOCAN Foundation is proud to add 10 new cash prizes to the TD Indigenous Songwriters Awards and the SiriusXM Black Canadian Music Awards, giving more opportunities for exceptional emerging music creators to benefit from the awards.

Each award category will be augmented with five $1,000 Honourable Mention prizes, in addition to the current prizes of $10,000 for the Indigenous Songwriter Awards and five $5,000 prizes for the Black Canadian Music Awards.

“The quality of the submissions we receive year after year is so high that we felt it was our duty to find a way to reward more music creators,” said Charlie Wall-Andrews, Executive Director of the SOCAN Foundation. “We hope that this additional support will continue to help foster a more inclusive representation of communities throughout the Canadian music ecosystem.”

In addition to the new honourable mention cash prizes, the Songwriters Association of Canada and the Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec are offering free one-year memberships to the Grand Prize winners in each competition, giving the winners privileged access to their services.

Music Creators must submit their applications for consideration by Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. E.T. Applications can be submitted here. For more information, please visit the SOCAN Foundation website.

The Indigenous Songwriter Awards is a partnership between TD Bank and the SOCAN Foundation. Its purpose is to celebrate the outstanding work of music creators from First Nations communities.

Works submitted to the competition are reviewed by a panel of distinguished songwriters appointed by the SOCAN Foundation. The judges will give primary consideration to works of outstanding merit, and the decisions of the jury are final. A cash prize of $10,000 is awarded to the winner of the competition, which is open to songwriters of Indigenous descent without age restrictions. An Indigenous person is defined as a Canadian who is a member (registered or non-registered) of a First Nation, Métis, or Inuit. Proof of membership in a recognized community or organization may include a status card, membership card in an Aboriginal entity, or letter of reference indicating Aboriginal status.

The Black Canadian Music Award is a partnership between SiriusXM Canada and the SOCAN Foundation. Its purpose is to celebrate the outstanding work of Black Canadian music creators. It’s open to creators of all types of music: folk, blues, rock, hip-hop, R&B, etc. To be eligible, the creator of the work submitted must identify as Black and be a Canadian citizen. In the case of a collective or band, each member of the group must meet the competition’s eligibility criteria. Up to five grants of $5,000 each are awarded to the finalists of the competition. Entries will be judged by a panel of Black artists and Black leaders in the Canadian music industry. Black music is defined as music created, produced, or inspired by Black people, by people of African descent, including African musical traditions and African popular music, as well as the musical genres of the African diaspora, including Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latin, Afro-Brazilian and Afro-American music.