2019 JUNO Gala shines a spotlight on newly discovered Canadian talent

Shawn Mendes takes the lead with four awards

Twenty first time nominees take home a coveted JUNO statuette including host city hometown favourite, Loud Luxury

Special awards given to industry icons David Foster (Humanitarian Award Presented by Music Canada) and Duff Roman (Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award)

The Washboard Union accepts their JUNO at the 2019 Juno Awards Gala in London – photo Kayla Winkworth

FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS AT THE 2019 JUNO GALA DINNER & AWARDS, GO TO WWW.JUNOAWARDS.CA

Shawn Mendes took the lead this year with an impressive four award sweep including Artist of the Year Presented with Apple Music, Single of the Year, Pop Album of the Year and Songwriter of the Year Presented by SOCAN.An abundance of new faces were welcomed to the podium with more than half the evening’s awards presented to first time winners.  The Washboard Union(Breakthrough Group of the Year Sponsored by FACTOR, the Government of Canada, and Canada’s Private Radio Broadcasters), Dizzy (Alternative Album of the Year, Sponsored by Long & McQuade), Loud Luxury (Dance Recording of the Year), Jeremy Dutcher (Indigenous Music Album of the Year, Presented by APTN), Donovan Woods(Contemporary Roots Album of the Year), LOVECOLLIDE (Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year), Wesli (World Music Album of the Year, Presented by Aeromexico), Mike Milosh (Album Artwork of the year), Ali Eisner (Video of the Year, Presented by Stingray), Laila Biali (Vocal Jazz Album of the Year), Andy Milne & Dapp Theory (Jazz Album of the Year: Group), Gordon Grdina (Instrumental Album of the Year), Loud (Francophone Album of the Year), Splash’N ‘Boots (Children’s Album of the Year), Ana Sokolović (Classical Composition of the Year), Milk & Bone(Electronic Album of the Year), Voivod (Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year), Dave Merheje (Comedy Album of the Year, Sponsored by SiriusXM Canada), and Post Malone (International Album of the Year) all took home their first JUNO statuettes.

Hubert Lenoir performs at the 2019 JUNO Awards Gala in London – photo Kayla Winkworth

Five live performances lit up the evening including 2019 Alternative Album of the Year Sponsored by Long & McQuade winner Dizzy; 2019 Contemporary Roots Album of the Year winner Donovan Woods; five-time JUNO Award winner and seven-time nominee Exco Levi; francophone rocker Hubert Lenoir; and one of the 2018/2019 Allan Slaight JUNO Master Class winners, Port Cities whose performance was powered by Stingray.

Additional highlights of the evening include the presentation of three special awards: The Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award, presented by Jan Haust to broadcast pioneer, Duff Roman for his ongoing contributions and dedication to the Canadian music industry; multiple JUNO Award winner Michael Bublé introduced Canadian icon David Foster as the recipient of the 2019 Humanitarian Award Presented by Music Canada, honoured for his outstanding philanthropic contributions and commitment to supporting and inspiring others to give back; lastly, the 2019 MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award presented to Kim Hastings by Canadian icon and multiple JUNO Award winner Jann Arden.

The 48th annual JUNO Awards Broadcast, took place at Budweiser Gardens in London on Sunday, March 17 at 8 PM ET