The countdown to The Polaris Music Prize is in its final hours. The winner of one of the most prestigious (and lucrative) prizes in Canadian music will be announced later tonight (Monday Sept. 18) at the Polaris Gala at The Carlu in Toronto.

The victor will take home a cool $50K and serious bragging rights, while the nine runners-up will all be awarded $3K, courtesy of Slaight Music.

Just to refresh your memory, the 10 nominees this year are (in alphabetical order):



A Tribe Called Red - We Are The Halluci Nation

BadBadNotGood – IV

Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker

Gord Downie - Secret Path

Feist – Pleasure

Lisa LeBlanc - Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?

Lido Pimienta - La Papessa

Tanya Tagaq – Retribution

Leif Vollebekk - Twin Solitude

Weaves – Weaves

Nominees expected to perform at The Carlu are Feist, Lisa LeBlanc, Lido Pimienta, Tanya Tagaq. Leif Vollebekk, and Weaves.

The Polaris Music Prize is presented by CBC Music and produced by Blue Ant Media. The award goes to this year’s best Canadian album, judged solely on artistic merit, without consideration of genre or record sales.

Determining tonight's winner is a Grand Jury comprising:

Brian Cleveland, CFMH, Saint John, NB

Francella Fiallos, CKDU, Halifax, NS

Erin Flynn, CHUO 89.1FM, Ottawa, ON

Vish Khanna, Kreative Kontrol, Guelph, ON

Nick Krewen, Freelance Journalist, Toronto, ON

Erik Leijon, Freelance Journalist, Montréal, QC

Tara McCarthy, CBC Radio One, Whitehorse, YT

Catherine Pogonat, Radio-Canada, Montréal, QC

Sandra Sperounes, Edmonton, AB, Capital City Records

Laura Stanley, Freelance Journalist, Toronto, ON

Brad Wheeler, The Globe And Mail, Toronto, ON

The Polaris Gala will be hosted by CBC Radio 2 Morning host Raina Douris and live streamed at CBCMusic.ca and on CBC Music’s Facebook and YouTube pages starting at 8 p.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 18.

A week ago, Polaris revealed its Longer List. This comprises 213 titles, or every eligible album that was officially recommended by at least juror or received one vote in 2017. Check out that list here

With the clock ticking down to the big decision, here is a refresher course on the ten finalists, in the form of a video from each of the nominated albums.



A Tribe Called Red - We Are The Halluci Nation

BadBadNotGood – IV

Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker

Gord Downie - Secret Path

Feist – Pleasure

Lisa LeBlanc - Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?

Lido Pimienta - La Papessa

Tanya Tagaq – Retribution

Leif Vollebekk - Twin Solitude

Weaves – Weaves