Kaytranada Wins the 2016 Polaris Music Prize

Photo: Liam MacRae

BY Exclaim! StaffPublished Sep 20, 2016

Kaytranada has won the 2016 Polaris Music Prize for his 99.9% LP. The award was handed out this evening (September 19) at a ceremony at the Carlu in Toronto.
 
The winning record rose to the top of a short list that also included Andy Shauf, Basia Bulat, Black Mountain, Carly Rae Jepsen, Grimes, Jessy Lanza, PUP, U.S. Girls and White Lung.

"For me, it's crazy to get this award," said Kaytranada in a statement. "It's really, truly, a big honour. It's amazing. Ceci est pour Montréal, tous mes Montréalais. Shout-outs to all of y'all. I want to thank the judges and everybody for voting for me. It's an honour man, I don't know what to say."
 
Those 10 albums were whittled down from a long list of 40 records released between June 2015 and May 2016. Those 40 records came from a much larger pool of releases that were given some attention on a "longer list" revealed earlier this summer.
 
The long and short lists were determined by a panel of Canadian music journalists, while the winner was decided upon by a grand jury of 11 jurors over the course of this evening's gala.

The prize honours the best Canadian album "without regard to musical genre or commercial popularity." As previously reported, the Polaris Music Prize winner will receive $50,000 in addition to bragging rights for the next 12 months.

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