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Prism Prize/Samantha Falco
Sterling Larose accepting the 2023 Prism Prize for Snotty Nose Rez Kids’ “Damn Right."
Awards
'A Proactive Move': Louis Calabro On Why the Prism Prize is Going on Pause
The Canadian music video prize is going on hiatus, along with its MVP Project music video fund.
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The Prism Prize is hitting pause.
As one of Canada’s biggest boosters for music videos, the annual award recognizes the best Canadian music video of the year, with the winner getting a $20,000 cash prize. The MVP Project is also going on hiatus this year.
Known as the richest cash prize for music videos in North America, the award recognized videos for songs by a variety of artists, including Charlotte Day Wilson, Kaytranada, Snotty Nose Rez Kids and Mustafa, who took home the award for a second time at last year’s ceremony.
For founder Louis Calabro, Vice President of Programming & Awards at the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, the purpose of the break is to inspire new ideas and adapt to the current music video landscape.
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“The decision to pause is a proactive move,” he says. “The Prism Prize was a success, but I have the mentality that you shouldn’t wait for something to crumble. You start to re-evaluate so you can fire it up even better.”
When Calabro launched the award independently in 2012 alongside Neil Haverty, it was a pivotal moment for music videos. MuchMusic was on the wane, and YouTube was taking over as the primary platform for the medium. Funding was dwindling too, with Bell Media later axing the MuchFACT music video grant in 2017 after the CRTC removed the condition in its MuchMusic TV license. That fund contributed $2 million annually for music videos.
The Prism Prize evolved to meet the moment. While initially independent, it became part of the Academy (which also administers the Canadian Screen Awards) soon after – recognizing music videos and their creators not only as part of the music industry, but the film and TV industry as well. Artists like Director X, Karena Evans and Chandler Levack and more all kept a foot in the medium while also moving into TV and film.
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Six years later, the Academy and Prism Prize launched the Music Video Production (MVP) Project in collaboration with RBC (one of Billboard Canada’s 2025 Branding Power Players), which acted as a juried incubator and funder for Canadian videos. That grant brought in just shy of $2 million of funding and created 137 videos with grants valued between $5,000 and $15,000.
“There wasn’t a single funding change that triggered the pause,” Calabro says. But in order for the Prism Prize to continue delivering the production quality and visuals it's known for, finding new partners is key. “That’s part of why we’re speaking with various funding agencies, to ensure we can continue to evolve and meet the high standard we’ve set,” he explains.
While he says the two hiatuses are not directly connected, there is a shared desire to emphasize a top-tier quality of the work or the events slipping due to resource pressures. “We felt it was the right time to pause, reevaluate and take the space to explore what the next version of each initiative could look like,” Calabro says.
The landscape of music videos has evolved since the mid-2010s, when the Prism Prize started. Visuals are more important than ever, but many are opting for models that differ from the traditional music video. Social media is a major element of today’s music release model, with some musicians focusing attention on TikTok’s short-form format, lower-production YouTube visualizers and Spotify’s gif-like visual canvas.
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“As things shift in the industry, music videos are made in different ways with new technologies,” he explains. “We were in a position where we thought the [music video] landscape was changing, and we wanted to be able to function at a high level. We want to be intentional about the next steps in this climate.”
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The ceremony also included a fan-voted Audience Award. In 2014, the organization introduced two new awards: the Special Achievement Award, which recognizes artistic excellence and exceptional contributions to music video art on a global stage, and the Arthur Lipsett Award, honouring innovative and unique approaches to music video art.
While the first year’s award was presented with a small private ceremony and screening at the Soho House, it was soon filling the over-500 capacity theatre at the TIFF Lightbox. Early conversations to pause the program came after last year’s awards ceremony at the Paradise Theatre in Toronto’s Bloor West, with a decision to stop and rethink coming in 2025.
“We've been incredibly lucky over the years with the Prism Prize,” Calabro says. “We produced top-quality work and found ways to make our show look good. We owed it to the artists that we were celebrating because they made awesome stuff.”
He continues: “It's an emotional thing to just look back on all the artists that you supported. I still get excited looking at the old videos and am proud of what we accomplished,” he says. “At the Academy, we've always asked: what do artists need now?”
While the organization answers the elusive question, they’ll continue to share videos “as they are released” on their website, and budding musicians can refer to the Prism Prize’s Talent Development programs, which Calabro says the team is equally passionate about.
During this indefinite break, the intention is still to support emerging and established Canadian artists.
“We’re taking this moment to reflect, consult with the industry, talk to artists, talk to different funding agencies and see where the Prism Prize fits going forward.”
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