Big Wins for Buffy Sainte-Marie, Dear Rouge, The Weeknd, and Whitehorse at the 2016 Juno Gala Dinner & Awards in Calgary

CANADA'S MUSIC ELITE GATHER TO TOAST 45 YEARS OF THE JUNO AWARDS

— Arcade Fire Honoured with the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award —
 — Music Director Rosalie Trombley Recipient of the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award —

CALGARY, April 2, 2016 /CNW/ - The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) crowned 35 new JUNO Award winners during the 2016 JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards Presented by SOCAN this evening in Calgary. A night of big wins and even bigger talent, more than 1,100 music industry guests and JUNO Award nominees joined host Jessi Cruickshank at the Telus Calgary Convention Centre to celebrate the best in Canadian music from the past year.

FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS AT THE 2016 JUNO GALA DINNER & AWARDS, INCLUDING BIOGRAPHIES AND IMAGES, GO TO WWW.JUNOAWARDS.CA.

The JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards are the prelude to CTV's nationally televised broadcast of The 2016 JUNO Awards tomorrow night, live from The Scotiabank Saddledome, where six remaining JUNO Award categories will be announced.

Following a hugely successful year with the release of his chart-topping album Beauty Behind the Madness, alternative R&B singer-songwriter The Weeknd scored a hat-trick tonight, snagging wins for Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year*, and R&B/Soul Recording of the Year. The multiplatinum-selling artist will also grace the JUNO stage for his second year in a row with a special performance during Sunday night's live broadcast of The 2016 JUNO Awards on CTV.

Three other broadcast performers also took home statuettes including double-winner Buffy Sainte-Marie, who earned Aboriginal Album of the Year* and Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, Dear Rouge, who were named Breakthrough Group of the Year* and Whitehorse, who won Adult Alternative Album of the Year.

Calgary natives, BRAIDS were the hometown heroes of the night who received an award for Alternative Album of the Year* and Bragg Creek, Alberta's Shawn Everett won Recording Engineer of the Year*.

Additional highlights of the evening included special award presentations by Tom Cochrane to commend Arcade Fire with the 2016 Allan Waters Humanitarian Award (sponsored by Bell Media), and 2016 Canadian Hall of Fame inductee Burton Cummings, who honoured legendary former Music Director Rosalie Trombley with the 2016 Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award.

Guests at the entertainment-filled Gala enjoyed a special three-course dinner curated by Canadian celebrity chef Roger Mooking, who was also on hand to speak to the menu, and musical performances by 2016 JUNO Award nominees Afiara Quartet & Skratch Bastid (Instrumental Album of the Year), Fortunate Ones (Contemporary Roots Album of the Year), SonReal (Rap Recording of the Year, Video of the Year*), Young Empires (Breakthrough Group of the Year*), as well as Jazz All-Stars Performers Al Muirhead, Allison Au, Jerry Granelli, Kodi Hutchinson, Mark Kelso, Rich Brown, Robi Botos, and Tommy Banks. 

The 2016 JUNO Awards Broadcast will air Sunday, April 3 live on CTV from Calgary's Scotiabank Saddledome at 7 p.m. ET/8 p.m. AT. JUNO TV will be live streaming exclusive interviews backstage on Sunday night at 7 p.m. ET on www.junotv.ca and will capture all the excitement from Sunday's pre-show red carpet. All 2016 JUNO Award performances will also be posted on JUNO TV after the broadcast.

*Award Sponsors for the 2016 JUNO Awards listed above include Songwriter of the Year (Presented by SOCAN), Aboriginal Album of the Year (Sponsored by Aboriginal Peoples Television Network), Breakthrough Group of the Year (Sponsored by FACTOR, The Government of Canada, Canada's Private Radio Broadcasters and Radio Starmaker Fund), Alternative Album of the Year (Sponsored by Long & McQuade), Video of the Year, (sponsored by MuchFACT, exclusively funded by Bell Media) and Recording Engineer of the Year (Sponsored by Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology [OIART]).

Premier Partners of The 2016 JUNO Awards: CARAS acknowledges the financial support of FACTOR, the Government of Canada and of Canada's Private Radio Broadcasters, Radio Starmaker Fund, the Province of Alberta, the City of Calgary, Tourism Calgary, the National Music Centre, Google Play Music, and TD Bank Group.

About CARAS
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences/L'académie canadienne des arts et des sciences de l'enregistrement (CARAS) is a not-for-profit organization created to preserve and enhance the Canadian music industry and to contribute toward higher artistic and industry standards. The main focus of CARAS is the exploration and development of ongoing opportunities to showcase and promote Canadian artists and music through vehicles such as The JUNO Awards and other year-round initiatives. For more information on the 45^th Annual JUNO Awards or The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) please visit www.junoawards.ca.  

Web Links
Official JUNO Awards website: www.junoawards.ca
Official JUNO TV website: www.junotv.ca
CTV's JUNO Awards website: www.junos.ctv.ca

The JUNO Awards Twitter handle: @TheJUNOAwards

SOURCE JUNO Awards

on CARAS and the 2016 JUNO Awards, contact: Vanessa Andres, 416-628-5612, [email protected]