Prism Prize to Host Virtual Award Ceremony for 2020 Edition

Organizers have also announced the new Willie Dunn Award

BY Allie GregoryPublished Jun 25, 2020

The Prism Prize — awarded annually to the best Canadian music video — will be announced virtually this year, in keeping with coronavirus distancing precautions.

The ceremony will take place live online on July 23 at 8 p.m. ET via the Prism Prize's official Facebook page, Twitter profile and YouTube channel. One winner picked from Prism's 20 finalists will receive the grand prize of $20,000. Runners-up will receive $500 each.

In addition to launching the online ceremony for this year's edition, Prism Prize organizers are also announcing another category of honour, the Willie Dunn Award, which will appoint "a Canadian trailblazer who has demonstrated excellence within the music video production community" to choose an "emerging creative" as the prize winner. That winner will receive a $5,000 cash grant.

The award is named after the groundbreaking Canadian singer-songwriter, whose 10-minute short film "The Ballad of Crowfoot" is known as one of the very first Canadian music videos.

Back in February, Prism announced its Top 20 contenders for the 2020 prize. The full list of nominees can be seen below.

2020 Prism Prize Top 20:
 
Alaskan Tapes – "And, We Disappear" (Director: Meredith Hama-Brown)
BAMBII ft. Pamputtae – "NITEVISION" (Directors: BAMBII & Kostadin Kolev)
Basia Bulat – "Your Girl" (Director: Brian Dale Sokolowski)
Cartel Madras – "Goonda Gold" (Directors: Bhaveek Makan & Jashan Makan)
Clairmont The Second – "Brick" (Director: Clairmont The Second)
Daniel Caesar ft. Koffee – "CYANIDE REMIX" (Directors: Keavan Yazdani & Sean Brown)
Debby Friday – "Fatal" (Directors: Debby Friday & Ryan Ermacora)
DOOMSQUAD – "General Hum" (Director: Zak Tatham)
iskwē – "Breaking Down" (Director: Jessica Lea Fleming)
Jeremy Dutcher – "Mehcinut" (Directors: Chandler Levack & Jeremy Dutcher)
Jessie Reyez – "Far Away" (Director: Peter Huang)
Jordan Klassen – "Virtuous Circle" (Director: Farhad Ghaderi)
Mac DeMarco – "Here Comes The Cowboy" (Director: Cole Kush)
Orville Peck – "Dead of Night" (Director: Michael Maxxis)
PUP – "Free at Last" (Directors: PUP, Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux, Amanda Fotes)
PUP – "Kids" (Director: Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux)
Said the Whale – "Record Shop" (Director: Johnny Jansen)
Sam Tudor – "Joseph in the Bathroom" (Director: Lucas Hrubizna)
Shad – "The Stone Throwers (Gone in a Blink)" (Director: Matthew Progress)
Shay Lia – "Good Together" (Director: CARAZ)  

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