In the second-ever edition of the Song Prize, the winner will receive $10,000 split between the song's Canadian performers and the credited Canadian songwriter(s). The winning song will be awarded at this year's Sept. 22 ceremony at Massey Hall.
The SOCAN Polaris Song Prize has revealed its second-ever short list.
This year’s edition features songs by Angine de Poitrine, Charlotte Cornfield, PUP, Patrick Watson & Martha Wainwright and Charlotte Day Wilson, featuring Saya Gray.
In partnership with the performing rights organization, Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), the winner of the Prize will receive $10,000 split between the song's Canadian performers and the credited Canadian songwriter(s).
The recipient will be revealed alongside the Polaris Music Prize and the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize at the concert and award ceremony at Massey Hall on Sept. 22, hosted by musician and broadcaster Odario Williams.
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Here is this year's short list:
Angine de Poitrine - "Fabienk"
Charlotte Cornfield - "Hurts Like Hell"
PUP - "Hunger For Death"
Patrick Watson & Martha Wainwright - "House on Fire"
Charlotte Day Wilson, featuring Saya Gray - "Lean"
“Sometimes, a song is so powerful it stands on its own and demands to be heard, and the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize Short List honours five such unforgettable Canadian songs,” said Jennifer Brown, CEO of SOCAN.
The short list selections were whittled down from a 20-song long list, that included tracks from Begonia, Les Louanges, Aquakultre, Rochelle Jordan and more.
Of the five short-listed artists, two have secured their spot on the Polaris Music Prize album short list: Angine de Poitrine’s Vol. II, and Charlotte Cornfield’s Hurts Like Hell.
Since its inception, both the long list and the short list have been curated and voted on by a 205-person Canada-wide Polaris Music Prize jury, spanning music critics, academics, journalists and other relevant industry members. In its inaugural edition, the prize was awarded to Mustafa’s “Gaza is Calling.”
In an interview about the Polaris organization’s recent changes, executive director Amber Still told Billboard Canadathat the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize was created to acknowledge “a whole new group of artists” who weren’t necessarily releasing full albums or bodies of work.
It’s the organization’s first new award since the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, introduced in 2015 to award albums released before the Polaris Music Prize launched in the mid 2000s. Past winners include Alanis Morrisette, Peaches and Beverly Glenn-Copeland — the latter two of whom are on this year’s Polaris Music Prize album short list, with their respective albums, No Lube So Rude and Laughter In Summer.
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While the organization had held up the album as its key artistic statement for nearly two decades, the 2025 launch of the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize was part of programming updates announced for the organization’s 20th anniversary.
“Since I've come on the board, we've been looking at everything that Polaris has been doing and seeing if there's any way that we can improve it or find opportunity within it,” Still, who joined the organization in 2021, said.
To attend the concert and awards ceremony, tickets are on sale now. Polaris is offering 15% off tickets with the code POLARIS15.
