culture
CBC Radio 3’s 2011 Bucky Award Nominees Announced
Listeners can vote online for the sixth annual CanCon-heavy music awards.
Katie Stelmanis of Austra casts her spell at the 2011 Polaris Prize ceremony. Austra is nominated for three Bucky Awards.
In the hierarchy of Canadian award shows, itself a tiny subset of international music-industry award shows, the CBC Bucky Awards fall somewhere close to the bottom, way below the MMVAs, somewhere near the Doras, and probably next to the Edge 102.1 CASBYs. Nevertheless, upon hearing the 2011 nominees had been announced, we rushed to the Radio 3 website, because there’s something special about feeling as though your vote counts in a “reality competition” and something very patriotic about choosing which of seven tracks sounds the “Most Canadian.”
Some nominations are predictable, like Sam Roberts for sexiest artist (come on!), the New Pornographers for best video, and nods for many Polaris-nominated bands. Still, like the massive variety of music broadcasted alongside each other on Radio 3, the Bucky Award nominees showcase CanCon in a way that celebrates the content of all music regardless of genre. Where else will you see Austra nominated in the same category (Best Vocals) as K-os?
Initially, we weren’t sure how Honheehonhee could possibly deserve a nod for Best New Band Name, but then we repeated the name out loud a few times and completely understood. And we had to laugh when the barely Canadian, but perhaps wholly deserving, Duck Sauce was nominated for Best Lyric for the song “Barbra Streisand.”
The full list of nominees, and public voting can be accessed on the Radio 3 website here. Voting for the Buckys is open to the public until November 27 at midnight; winners will be announced in a live broadcast with Grant Lawrence, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on December 7.