Voting on the first round of this year’s Searchlight began yesterday. With over 2,700 entries from all over Canada, including 14 from “The North”, covering genres from Classical to Rock and Indigenous to Country.

You have until February 28th (2:59 pm EST) to listen and vote on who you would like to see in the top 100 to make it through to the next round with the winner being announced on Monday, March 19th.

The Searchlight-winner will receive a placement in the 2018 Allan Slaight Juno Master Class, Canada’s premiere artist development program, before taking everything they’ve learned to the 2019 Juno Awards in London, Ont., where they will perform at JunoFest and attend all the Juno festivities! This prize package includes travel, accommodations, registration, and per diems for up to four people.

They will receive a week-long residency and full access to the recording facilities at the National Music Centre’s new building, Studio Bell, in Calgary with access to more than 300 historic musical instruments spanning 450 years of music innovation and technology.

The winning artist or band will also have the chance to perform in front of thousands of music fans at the CBC Music Festival in Toronto, held at Echo Beach on Saturday, May 26, 2018.

 

And don’t forget to keep following our Friday Playlist posts to see what gems our own Darlene discovers during each round of the contest.