Manitobans Pick Up Honours as BreakOut West Unveils First Wave of Western Canadian Music Awards

Updated October 16 with complete winners list

BreakOut West kicked off a weekend of music in Regina with the Western Canadian Music Awards Show at Casino Regina on October 13. Celebrating the best in western Canadian talent, the event honoured the winners for several WCMA categories as well as Hall of Fame Inductee Colin James. Two of this year's nominees from Manitoba, Justin Lacroix and William Prince, performed at the gala, while showcasing act The Middle Coast backed up Calgary's Michael Bernard Fitzgerald in the opening. 

Four Manitobans picked up honours at the event, including The Bros. Landreth for BreakOut Artist of the Year, William Prince for Aboriginal Artist of the Year, Jocelyne Baribeau for Francophone Artist of the Year, and the West End Cultural Centre for the Community Excellence Award. Read more about this year's nominees from Manitoba

Throughout October 14 and 15 at various showcases during the BreakOut West Festival, more artistic award winners were announced, including hardware for rock, pop, country, roots, electronic, jazz, spiritual, world, instrumental, metal, and blues artists of the year. The industry award winners were announced during a brunch on October 15.  Check out the schedule of Manitoba bands at this year's festival

Here are the award winners from Manitoba as of October 15...

ABORIGINAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR
William Prince

BLUES ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Romi Mayes

BREAKOUT ARTIST OF THE YEAR
The Bros. Landreth

CHILDREN'S ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Nadia Guadet & Jason Burnstick

FRANCOPHONE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Jocelyne Baribeau

JAZZ ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Curtis Nowosad Quintet

COMMUNITY EXCELLENCE AWARD
West End Cultural Centre

EXCELLENCE IN VISUAL DESIGN
Roberta Hansen

IMPACT IN ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
Paquin Artist Agency

BreakOut West is an annual gathering to celebrate, develop and support the best of western Canadian music, taking place this year in Regina, SK from October 13-16, 2016. Western Canadian artists are developing sustainable careers of national and international scope, and BreakOut West is an integral component of this development. Through the annual conference and festival, industry from around the world and western Canadian artists are given the opportunity to discover, educate, network and grow. The weekend kicks off with the Western Canadian Music Awards, showcasing the talent contained in the "left half" of Canada, and continues with the conference and publicly accessible showcases throughout the weekend.

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