Juno Awards backtrack on shelving reggae, children’s and Christian/gospel categories

The Juno Awards are reversing course on their plan to shelve three awards after strong blowback from the music community.

Junos head Allan Reid posted a message on Instagram Tuesday saying that “given the feedback,” the organization has decided to reinstate the categories for the 2025 show.

He said the children’s album, reggae recording and Christian/gospel album of the year categories will be part of the honours handed out next year.

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which oversees Canada’s biggest music awards show, has been undergoing a review of the ceremony and its categories over the past year with the intent of freshening it up for a modern audience.

Reid said the leadership had been “taking into consideration data such as consumption, number of submissions, and other metrics” when determining the future of some categories.

However, he added, “given the feedback from the community, CARAS will not put these three categories on hiatus this year.”

Earlier this month, The Canadian Press obtained a letter Juno organizers sent to committee members of the affected categories, notifying them of plans to put their awards on “hiatus.”

The decision led to a swift negative reaction from musicians and others in the music scene who called on the Junos to reconsider the decision.

Instead, Junos organizers declined requests to explain the changes, saying they would have “additional information to share in the next couple of weeks.”

That lack of acknowledgment frustrated some in the music industry who noted the organization left them in limbo weeks before submissions open for the 2025 awards.

Reid’s statement offered more clarity, saying that CARAS will outline all of the Junos changes on Monday with details on the “direction and vision for the awards now and into the future.”

His post did not mention the fate of the international album of the year award, a fourth category that was also set to go on “hiatus” next year.

The 54th Juno Awards ceremony will be held at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena on March 30, 2025.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.