The nominations are in for one of Canada’s most prestigious music awards—especially for those living west of Ontario.
The Western Canadian Music Awards (WCMAs) are presented by Breakout West, an annual music conference for those in the music industry to celebrate one another and connect with industry members outside their home province.
Every year, the conference and awards ceremony rotates through BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
Last time the WCMAs were in Victoria was 2015, and before that, 2002.
This year, the event will take place in Winnipeg between September 24th to 28th.
This year, several Vancouver Island artists and industry members received nominations in the awards’ various categories.
Tk The Artist, who emerged onto the Victoria music scene in the last couple years has been nominated for the Afrobeats Artist of the Year award.
Festival-goers may remember Tk The Artist from his performance at FernFest in 2024, or his Phillips Backyard set the same year.
One of Victoria’s musical juggernauts Astrocolor also received a nod from the WCMAs for Instrumental Artist of the year.
The band’s leader, Neil James Cooke-Dallin of Burning Rainbow, also received a nod for his work as an audio engineer.
For blues fans, Nanaimo-born David Gogo received a nomination for Blues Artist of the Year.
He got his start at the age of 15-years-old, in 1984, when he met the legendary Stevie Ray Vaughan backstage at the Royal Theatre and was encouraged by the blues legend to pursue a career in music.
Jojo Mason is nominated for Country Artist of the Year, and has roots in Victoria, after moving here from Saskatchewan to play hockey at a young age.
Mason would eventually get injured, which made playing sports as a career path impossible, and he started to endeavour his talents in country music.
For metal fans, Victoria’s own Torrefy has been nominated for the WCMAs Metal & Hard Music Artist of the Year.
Torrefy were announced this week as the headliners for ‘Mosh The Rock,’ Vancouver Island’s only metal-specific music festival taking place in Sooke this year.
Lastly, Bronwin Parks, a visual artist who runs the Victoria-based outfit, Feisty Creative was nominated for the WCMAs Excellence in Visual Design award.
Aside from the Vancouver Island nominees, there are plenty of talented artists from Vancouver and other parts of the province.
Of the 154 total nominations at this year’s WCMAs, BC artists pulled 63 of them.
See the full list of nominations here!
