Canadian Music Week is pleased to announce nominations for the 16th annual Canadian Radio Music Awards (CRMAs). Sponsored by Astral Radio, the awards, celebrating first-time charted artists and honouring individuals or groups among them with some of the most played songs at Canadian radio, will be handed out on Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 7 p.m. at Kool Haus in Toronto. This year, for the first time, the show will be open to the public and will serve as the official kick-off event to Canadian Music Week 2013 activities. Winners will be announced throughout the show, highlighted by performances from nominees Anjulie, Dallas Smith, Elise Legrow, Jesse Labelle, Monster Truck, Shawn Hook, USS and Victoria Duffield. Massari, who's latest single "Brand New Day" was just certified gold, will also perform. Fans' Choice nominees Marianas Trench, who recently completed their first cross-Canada arena tour, will headline the awards with a special guest performance before embarking on the second leg of that tour, running March 23rd - April 19th.
Leading the way with three nominations apiece are My Name is Kay with the song "Strangers", Victoria Duffield with "Feel", and Carly Rae Jepsen with two SOCAN Song of the Year nominations - one for "Call Me Maybe" and a second for "Curiosity" - as well as a Fans' Choice nod. Mia Martina and Shawn Hook follow with two nominations for their hits "Burning" and "Every Red Light". Marianas Trench complement their two nominations - Fans' Choice and Song of the Year for "Fallout" - with a songwriting nod for frontman Josh Ramsay in his role on Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe".
This year's music categories include: Mainstream AC, Hot AC, Rock, CHR, Dance/Urban/Rhythmic, and Country as well as the SOCAN Song of the Year and three newly added categories for International Group of the Year, International Solo Artist of the Year and Heatseeker Award.
Nominees comprise artists who have hit the Canadian charts for the first time and who have achieved top airplay in different formats based on radio "spins", as recorded by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) in 2012. Votes cast by program directors, music directors, and on-air personalities determine the winners.
Radio listeners from across the country can vote online for the CRMA Fans' Choice Award, International Group of the Year, International Solo Artist of the Year and Heatseeker Award at
www.cmw.net. The voting window opens February 4th and will close on March 20th at 8:00pm.
Two additional non-voting awards will also be presented at this year's ceremony: the FACTOR Breakthrough Award for top airplay for a new FACTOR supported artist; and the Chart Topper Award for top overall airplay.
Tickets for the Canadian Radio Music Awards are now available for purchase through Ticketmaster - www.ticketmaster.ca.
