Donna Hopper shall henceforth be addressed as Judge Donna

Donna Hopper shall henceforth be addressed as Judge Donna

Village Media's Donna Hopper is one of 11 Canadian music journalists and bloggers appointed today to pick the best Canadian album of the year.

Hopper will join counterparts from the CBC, Winnipeg Free Press, Edmonton Journal and Exclaim! on the 2015 Polaris Prize grand jury.

The jury will convene in Toronto the night of the September 21 Polaris Prize gala to decide the winner of the $50,000 award.

After a decade as SooToday's entertainment editor, Hopper recently branched out into video coverage through Tuned and other features on Local 2 when the Village Media family was formed.

For the past five years, she has been one of 200 Polaris Prize jurists, but this is the first year she was invited to the gala as a a member of the grand jury.

"It's truly an honour to be invited to be a part of the 2015 Polaris Music Prize grand jury," Hopper said today.

"Thank you to Polaris founder Steve Jordan for the unexpected privilege. I'm nervous, excited and eager to deliberate with such an esteemed panel of fellow jury members, and look forward to being a part of this exceptional Canadian music event."

A release from the Polaris Music Prize follows.

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The performers for the 2015 Polaris Gala have been revealed.

The Polaris Music Prize today announced the line-up of Short List performers for the Polaris Gala, taking place at The Carlu in Toronto on Monday, September 21. Confirmed performers include Alvvays, Braids, Jennifer Castle, Tobias Jesso Jr., Buffy Sainte-Marie and Viet Cong.

A limited number of tickets are available for purchase.

Fred Penner will host the Polaris Gala, which will be webcast live on Aux.tv. To celebrate Polaris’ 10th Anniversary, many of this year’s presenters will be previously nominated artists, including Katie Stelmanis (Austra), Simone Schmidt (ex-100 Dollars), Dan Boeckner (Handsome Furs / Wolf Parade / Operators), Owen Pallett and Jeremy Greenspan (Junior Boys).

The Grand Jury has also been announced. The following 11 jurists will convene on the night of the gala to decide the winner:

Alicia Atout (A Music Blog Yea?)
Sarah Greene (Exclaim)
Ty Harper (City On My Back)
Donna Hopper (Village Media)
Ken Kelley (Music Nerd Chronicles)
Sarah Kitteringham (Beatroute)
Barnaby Marshall (New Canadian Music)
Dave Morris (freelance)
Alan Neal (CBC All In A Day)
Renato Pagnani (Edmonton Journal)
Jen Zoratti (Winnipeg Free Press)

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