Past albums by The Band, Neil Young, Esthero, Rough Trade, Arcade Fire, Rush, The Tragically Hip and many more made the short list for the second annual Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, it was revealed at last night's Polaris Music Prize gala in Toronto.

Ten albums are honored in four time periods, 1960-1975; 1976-1985; 1986-1995; and 1996-2005. The prize was launched last year to recognize albums that may have made the short-list for the Polaris Music Prize were it in existence then.

Like the Polaris Music Prize, albums are selected based on artistic merit without regards to sales or affiliations. "This award is Polaris' version of the Hall of Fame, intended to recognize classic Canadian albums released before 2006, the year the original Polaris Prize started," said Derrick Ross of Slaight Music onstage at the Carlu.

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The list of albums has been increased to 10 titles (from last year's five) for each time period, selected by four separate juries of music critics, journalists, broadcasters and programmers from across Canada. Another change for 2016 is two albums from each era will win, one selected by a jury, the other by public vote.

"I liked the idea of the critics picking one of those records," Polaris Music Prize founder Steve Jordan told Billboard backstage. "We do want to get fan engagement and the public engagement, but we don't want artists who are less popular and don't have that ability to mobilize a fan-base not to get the recognition."

He says it will not be possible for the same album to be picked by the fans and jury. "No, we'll just go down the list."

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Voting is now open here. Winners will be announced Oct. 24.

Last year's winners were Blue by Joni Mitchell (60s & 70s); The Trinity Session by the Cowboy Junkies (80s); Twice Removed by Sloan (90s); and The Teaches of Peaches by Peaches (00s: 2000-2005).

The 2016 nominees are:

1960-1975

The Band, Music From Big Pink (1968)

The Band, The Band (1969)

Robert Charlebois & Louise Forestier, Lindberg (1968)

Leonard Cohen, Songs Of Leonard Cohen (1967)

Gordon Lightfoot, Lightfoot! (1966)

Joni Mitchell, Court And Spark (1974)

The Oscar Peterson Trio, Night Train (1963)

Jackie Shane, Live! (1967)

Neil Young, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969)

Neil Young, After The Gold Rush (1970)

1976-1985

Bruce Cockburn, Stealing Fire (1984)

D.O.A., Hardcore 81 (1981)

Fifth Column, To Sir With Hate (1985)

Glenn Gould, Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1981)

Martha and the Muffins, This is the Ice Age (1981)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Kate & Anna McGarrigle (1976)

Jackie Mittoo, Showcase Volume 3 (1977)

Rough Trade, Avoid Freud 1(980)

Rush, Moving Pictures (1981)

Leroy Sibbles, On Top (1982)

1986-1995

Blue Rodeo, 5 Days In July (1993)

Dream Warriors, And Now The Legacy Begins (1991)

Maestro Fresh Wes, Symphony In Effect (1989)

Daniel Lanois, Acadie (1989)

Sarah McLachlan, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (1993)

Main Source, Breaking Atoms (1991)

Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill (1995)

Mary Margaret O'Hara, Miss America (1988)

John Oswald, Plunderphonics (1989)

The Tragically Hip, Fully Completely (1992)

1996-2005

Arcade Fire, Funeral (2004)

Bran Van 3000, Glee (1997)

Broken Social Scene, You Forgot It In People (2002)

Constantines, Shine A Light (2004)

The Dears, No Cities Left (2003)

Destroyer, Streethawk (2001)

?Esthero, Breath from Another (1998)

Feist, Let It Die (2003)

k-os, Joyful Rebellion (2004)

Lhasa de Sela, La Llorona (1997)