The Juno Awards of 2020, the 49th

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

s, was an awards presentation that was to be held at

SaskTel Centre SaskTel Centre (formerly Credit Union Centre, and originally Saskatchewan Place; informally also known as ''Sask Place'') is an arena located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The facility opened in February 1988 and is currently the home venue ...

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

on 15 March 2020. The awards and associated events were cancelled due to the emergence of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Most cases over the course o ...

, making it the first Juno Awards since

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

to be cancelled. The award winners were announced on 29 June 2020 in an online event.

Host city bids

Saskatoon attempted to host the

2019 awards Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, but abandoned that bid due to lack of funding. The city's subsequent bid for 2020 was successful. The municipal government of Saskatoon had allocated $350,000 towards the event. Hamilton, Ontario was previously interested in bidding for the 2019 or 2020 Junos.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and cancellation

On 12 March 2020, three days before the presentation, the

Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) is a non-profit organization responsible for promoting Canadian music and artists. It is famous for its Juno Awards, which recognize achievements in the music industry of popular song ...

(CARAS) announced that the ceremony and all ancillary events had been cancelled due to health concerns surrounding the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the comm ...

, as it had been declared a

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

the day before. Although Saskatchewan had, until shortly after the cancellation (when its chief medical officer announced the first presumptive case in the province), not had any confirmed cases of coronavirus yet, an announcement on Wednesday that the show would go on had faced backlash from residents and others. CARAS stated that it would "coordinate an alternate plan" to honour its 2020 award recipients. The Junos Songwriters' Circle, an annual event normally held as part of the Juno Awards weekend which features Canadian songwriters performing and sharing the stories behind their songs in a panel format, was relaunched in May 2020 in a

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

format, with the first episode featuring

Brett Kissel Brett Kissel (born May 27, 1990) is a Canadian country music, country singer. He has achieved four number-one hits on the Canadian country chart with "Airwaves (Brett Kissel song), Airwaves", "Drink About Me", "A Few Good Stories", and "Make a L ...

, Dominique Fils-Aimé,

Kaia Kater Kaia Kater (born in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitar, piano and banjo player. Background Kater was born in Montreal, Quebec, where she spent her early childhood in Mile End. She started playing the banjo at 12 years old. ...

and Devon Portielje. The second episode featured

Rose Cousins Rosanne Millicent "Rose" Cousins (born April 21, 1977) is a Canadian folk-pop singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Prince Edward Island, she is currently based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Career Cousins released two EPs prior to her full-length ...

, William Prince,

Ed Robertson Lloyd Edward Elwyn Robertson (born October 25, 1970) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the band Barenaked Ladies. He, along with former member Steven Page, founded the group in 1988. As of Page' ...

and

Tenille Townes Tenille Townes (born Tenille Nicole Nadkrynechny; January 20, 1994) is a Canadian country music singer from Grande Prairie, Alberta. In 2011, at the age of 17, she was nominated for a Canadian Country Music Award for Female Artist of the Year. ...

; the third featured Dallas Green,

Sarah Harmer Sarah Lois Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist. Early life Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musical lifestyle as a teenager, when her older s ...

Joel Plaskett William Joel MacDonald Plaskett (born April 18, 1975) is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was a member of Halifax alternative rock band Thrush Hermit in the 1990s. Plaskett performs in a number of gen ...

and

Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie (born Beverley Jean Santamaria; February 20, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and social activist. Sainte-Marie's singing and writing repertoire includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism, and h ...

; and the fourth featured

Scott Helman Scott Helman (born October 1, 1995) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Toronto. He released his debut EP ''Augusta'' in 2014, followed by ''Spotify Sessions'' in 2016 and ''Hang Ups'' in 2018. His album ''Hôtel de Ville'' was released in 20 ...

Meghan Patrick Meghan Patrick (born March 25, 1987) is a Canadian-American country singer-songwriter from Bowmanville, Ontario. She was previously signed to Warner Music Canada, and is currently signed to Riser House Entertainment. She released her debut al ...

, Tom Wilson and

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

Online ceremonies

On 18 June, the Junos announced that a virtual ceremony would be broadcast through

CBC Gem CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

on 29 June 2020.

Events

Alessia Cara Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara (), is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She began posting covers of songs on YouTube at age 13. After uploading acoustic covers of songs such as " Love Yourself" and ...

was the planned host of the main ceremonies. The livestream was hosted by

Odario Williams Odario Williams is a Canadian musician and broadcaster; he is currently the host of the weekday evening program ''Afterdark'' and the weekly ''CBC Music Live'' on CBC Music. In addition to ''Afterdark'', Williams makes regular appearances on CBC Ra ...

and

Damhnait Doyle Damhnait Doyle (; born December 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer, composer and radio host. A phonetic spelling of her first name (which is Irish) also serves as the title of her 2003 album. She was a member of Atlantic Canadian band Shaye from 2 ...

Performers

The following performers appeared during the livestream: *

iskwē iskwē (Cree syllabics: , formerly transliterated IsKwé) (short for waseskwan iskwew, meaning "blue sky woman" in English) (born Meghan Lynne Meisters, 1981) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and activist. Personal life Originally from Winni ...

Neon Dreams Neon Dreams is a Canadian alt-pop duo consisting of vocalist Frank Kadillac and drummer Adrian Morris. They write and produce their own music with long-time collaborator Corey Lerue. They defy genre pigeonholing, as they draw freely upon pop, rock ...

The Dead South The Dead South is a folk- bluegrass musical ensemble based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The band was initially formed in 2012 as a quartet by Nate Hilts (vocals, guitar, mandolin), Scott Pringle (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Danny Kenyon (ce ...

Nominees and winners

Jann Arden Jann Arden (born Jann Arden Anne Richards; March 27, 1962) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, author and actress. She is best known for her signature ballads, " Could I Be Your Girl" and " Insensitive", which is her biggest hit to date, as well ...

was set to be inducted into the

Canadian Music Hall of Fame The Canadian Music Hall of Fame was established in 1978 by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) to honour Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements in music. The award presentation is held each year as part of th ...

during the main ceremonies. As the ceremony was cancelled, her formal induction instead took place at the

Juno Awards of 2021 The Juno Awards of 2021, honouring Canadian music achievements, were presented on 6 June 2021, observing the 50th anniversary of these awards. The main ceremonies were televised on CBC. The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place in Mar ...

. Nominations were announced on 18 January 2020. Winners were announced on 29 June.

People

Albums

Songs and recordings

Other

References

{{Juno Award years 2020 in Canadian music 2020 music awards

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Music events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2020 awards in Canada June 2020 in Canada