Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year

The Juno Award for "Songwriter of the Year" has been awarded since 1971, as recognition each year for the best songwriter in Canada. It was also known as the Juno Award for "Composer of the Year" from 1975 to 1990.[citation needed]

Formerly presented for a single song, in its contemporary form the award is presented for two or three songs by the same songwriter; as long as the songwriter is Canadian, they may be nominated for songs that were recorded or performed by non-Canadian artists. Songwriting collaborators share in the nomination if they are both Canadian and common to all of the nominated songs; collaborators will be acknowledged, but not formally included in the nomination, if they did not share credit on all of the nominated songs or if they are not Canadians.

Winners

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Best Songwriter (1971 - 1974)

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Composer of the Year (1975 - 1990)

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Songwriter of the Year (1991 - 1998)

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Best Songwriter (1999 - 2002)

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Year Winner(s) Songs Nominees Ref.
1999 Bryan Adams "On a Day Like Today", "When You're Gone"
2000 Shania Twain "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!", "You've Got a Way", "That Don't Impress Me Much"
2001 Nelly Furtado "Turn Off the Light", "I'm like a Bird", "...on the Radio (Remember the Days)"
2002 Jann Arden "Never Mind", "Thing for You"
  • Leonard Cohen — "Boogie Street", "In My Secret Life", "You Have Loved Enough"
  • Sarah Harmer — "Don't Get Your Back Up", "Hideout", "Uniform Grey"
  • Ron Sexsmith — "April After All", "Just My Heart Talking", "This Song"
  • Rufus Wainwright — "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk", "Grey Gardens", "Poses"

Songwriter of the Year (2003 - Present)

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Year Winner(s) Songs Nominees Ref.
2003 Chad Kroeger and Nickelback "Hero", "Too Bad", "How You Remind Me"
2004 Sarah McLachlan "World on Fire", "Fallen", "Stupid"
  • Kathleen Edwards — "Six O'clock News", "Hockey Skates", "Mercury"
  • Nelly Furtado — "Saturdays", "Powerless (Say What You Want)", "Childhood Dreams"
  • Ron Sexsmith — "You Were There", "On a Whim", "Someway Somehow"
  • Hawksley Workman — "Anger As Beauty", "We Will Still Need a Song", "Smoke Baby"
2005 Ron Sexsmith "Whatever It Takes", "Not About to Lose", "Hard Bargain"
  • Buck 65 — "Wicked and Weird", "463", "Sore"
  • Marc Jordan — "Let's Waste Some Time", "Shot Down My Heart", "Tears of Hercules"
  • Avril Lavigne — "Don't Tell Me", "My Happy Ending", "Nobody's Home"
  • Gordie Sampson — "Sunburn", "Paris", "You (Or Somebody Like You)"
2006 Arcade Fire "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)", "Rebellion (Lies)", "Wake Up"
  • Kathleen Edwards — "Back to Me", "Copied Keys", "In State"
  • Joel Plaskett — "Happen Now", "Lying on a Beach", "Natural Disaster"
  • Ron Sexsmith — "Lemonade Stand", "Listen", "One Less Shadow"
  • Neil Young — "The Painter", "Prairie Wind", "When God Made Me"
2007 Gordie Sampson "Jesus, Take the Wheel", "Words Get in the Way", "Crybaby"
  • Sarah Harmer — "I Am Aglow", "Oleander", "Escarpment Blues"
  • k-os — "Sunday Morning", "The Rain", "Flypaper"
  • Nickelback — "Far Away", "If Everyone Cared", "Rockstar"
  • Ron Sexsmith — "All in Good Time", "Never Give Up", "Hands of Time"
2008 Feist "My Moon My Man", "1234", "I Feel It All"
2009 Dallas Green "Waiting...", "Sleeping Sickness", "The Girl"
  • Nathan Ferraro — "Never Again", "Change For You", "Unaware"
  • Hedley — "Old School", "For the Nights I Can’t Remember", "Never Too Late"
  • Alanis Morissette — "Underneath", "Not As We", "In Praise of the Vulnerable Man"
  • Gordie Sampson — "When I Said I Would", "Just a Dream", "Davey Jones"
2010 K'naan "Wavin' Flag", "Take A Minute", "If Rap Gets Jealous"
2011 Arcade Fire "Ready to Start", "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)", "We Used To Wait"
  • Drake – "Fireworks", "Over", "Show Me a Good Time"
  • Hannah Georgas – "Chit Chat", "The Deep End", "Lovers Breakdown"
  • Sarah McLachlan – "Forgiveness", "Illusions of Bliss", "Loving You Is Easy"
  • Royal Wood – "On Top of Your Love", "Tonight I Will Be Your Guide", "Waiting"
2012 Dallas Green "Fragile Bird", "We Found Each Other", "Weightless"
  • Jim Cuddy – "Everyone Watched the Wedding", "Skyscraper Soul", "Watch Yourself Go Down"
  • Feist – "How Come You Never Go There", "Graveyard", "The Circle Married the Line"
  • Dan Mangan – "About as Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help at All", "Post-War Blues", "Oh Fortune"
  • Ron Sexsmith – "Get in Line", "Believe it When I See It", "Middle of Love"
2013 Leonard Cohen "Amen", "Going Home", "Show Me the Place"
  • Arkells – "Michigan Left", "On Paper", "Whistleblower"
  • Kathleen Edwards – "A Soft Place to Land", "Chameleon/Comedian", "Change the Sheets"
  • Hannah Georgas – "Enemies", "Robotic", "Somebody"
  • Afie Jurvanen – "Be My Witness", "Caught Me Thinkin", "Lost in the Light"
2014 Serena Ryder "Stompa", "What I Wouldn't Do", "When You Know"
2015 Afie Jurvanen "All the Time", "Bitter Memories", "Stronger Than That"
  • Catherine MacLellan - "Jack's Song", "Tell Me Luella", "The Raven's Sun"
  • Henry "Cirkut" Walter - "Birthday", "Dark Horse", "Wild Wild Love"
  • Jenn Grant - "Bring Me a Rose", "No One's Gonna Love You (Quite Like I Do)", "Trailer Park"
  • Magic! - "Don't Kill the Magic", "Let Your Hair Down", "Rude"
2016 Abel Tesfaye "Can't Feel My Face", "In the Night", "The Hills"
2017 Gord Downie "The Stranger", "The Only Place To Be", "Son"
  • Ruth Berhe - "Lost Boy", "Superficial Love", "2 Poor Kids"
  • Leonard Cohen - "You Want It Darker", "It Seemed the Better Way", "Traveling Light"
  • Tegan Quin and Sara Quin - "Boyfriend", "100x", "Stop Desire"
  • Donovan Woods - "Leaving Nashville", "What Kind of Love Is That", "They Don't Make Anything in That Town"
2018 Gord Downie, Kevin Drew "A Natural", "Introduce Yerself", "The North"
2019 Shawn Mendes "Lost in Japan", "Youth", "In My Blood"
  • Frank Dukes — "Be Careful", "Better Now", "Call Out My Name"
  • Afie Jurvanen — "No Wrong", "Way With Words", "Any Place"
  • Jessie Reyez — "Promises", "One Kiss", "Apple Juice"
  • Donovan Woods — "Our Friend Bobby", "Truck Full of Money", "Next Year"
2020 Alessia Cara "Growing Pains", "Out of Love", "Rooting for You"
  • Tim Baker - "All Hands", "Dance", "The Eighteenth Hole"
  • Bülow - "Boys Will Be Boys", "Sweet Little Lies", "Two Punks in Love"
  • Tenille Townes - "I Kept the Roses", "Jersey on the Wall (I'm Just Asking)", "White Horse"
  • Patrick Watson - "Broken", "Dream for Dreaming", "Here Comes the River"
2021 Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason "DaHeala" Quenneville "After Hours", "Blinding Lights", "Save Your Tears" [1]
2022 Abel Tesfaye "Hurricane", "Moth to a Flame", "Take My Breath"
  • Mustafa Ahmed — "Air Forces", "The Hearse", "What About Heaven"
  • Allison Russell — "4th Day Prayer", "Montreal", "Nightflyer"
  • Tobi — "Off The Drugs", "Shall I Continue", "Too Hot"
  • Charlotte Day Wilson — "I Can Only Whisper", "If I Could", "Wish It Was Easy"
[2]
2023 Abel Tesfaye "Less Than Zero", "Out of Time", "Sacrifice"
  • Faouzia — "Anybody Else", "Puppet", "RIP, Love"
  • Tate McRae — "Chaotic", "Feel Like Shit", "She's All I Wanna Be"
  • Tenille Townes — "The Last Time", "When You Need It", "When's It Gonna Happen"
  • Tobi — "Before We Panic", "Flowers", "Move"
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2024 Aysanabee "Alone", "Here and Now", "Somebody Else" [4]

References

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  1. ^ Holly Gordon and Andrea Warner, "Here are the 2021 Juno Award winners". CBC Music, June 4, 2021.
  2. ^ Holly Gordon, "Here are all the 2022 Juno Award winners". CBC Music, May 14, 2022.
  3. ^ Jenna Benchetrit and Arti Patel, "The Weeknd picks up 4 wins on Junos 2023 opening night". CBC News, March 11, 2023.
  4. ^ "Junos 2024: full list of winners". CBC Music, March 23, 2024.