This is an update to the previous announcement regarding the 2025 JUNO Awards.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 25, 2024
CARAS pauses the “hiatus” for three categories and adds two new ones
After many days of advocacy by those working on behalf of Canadian artists, CARAS reversed its decision to pull the Christian/Gospel, Reggae, & Children’s Album of the Year categories from the 2025 Juno Awards.
CEO of the Juno Awards, Allan Reid, addressed this personally in a statement last Tuesday afternoon.
“Over the course of last year, CARAS underwent an extensive process reviewing all Award categories, taking into consideration data such as consumption, number of submissions, and other metrics. Given the feedback from the community, CARAS will not put these three categories on hiatus this year… We remain dedicated to ensuring the JUNO Awards reflect industry excellence and is representative of the diversity of the Canadian music industry.”
An official notice outlining all of the changes for the 2025 JUNO Awards categories was released Monday, September 23rd, providing further clarity on the direction and vision for the Awards now and into the future. While CARAS has dropped “International Album of the Year”, two new categories have been added for 2025: South Asian Music Recording of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year (non-performing)
Allan further expressed his commitment to “working together to celebrate all the incredible talent that makes Canadian music so special.”
GMA Canada wishes to express their gratitude to all who advocated on behalf of these categories, including ADVANCE Music Canada, and to CARAS for their hard work and dedication. We look forward to celebrating Christian and Gospel music at the Junos, along with the many other Canadian music communities and the genres they represent.
Submissions for all awards will open October 15th, and close October 31s1. Eligible music must be released between September 1st, 2023 and November 1st, 2024. More information and a full list of eligibility criteria can be found at junoaawards.ca.
