Victoria and Vancouver Island is represented by a diverse set of nominees for the 2026 JUNO Awards.
Nanaimo’s Cameron Whitcomb leads the pack tying superstars Justin Bieber and Tate McRae with six nominations in his debut as a JUNO nominee. The singer-songwriter is up for the TD JUNO Fan Choice award, Single of The Year for his song ‘Options’, Album of The Year for ‘The Hard Way’, Breakthrough Artist of The Year, Country Album of The Year and Album Artwork of The Year.
Afro-Canadian rapper AP Dhillon, who made international headlines in 2024 after his Colwood home was hit by gunfire in a gang extortion plot, is nominated for South Asian Music Recording of the Year for ‘AFSOS’ a song he did with Anuv Jain.
Victoria’s Nelly Furtado‘s seventh album ‘7’ is nominated for Pop Album of The Year. This nomination comes months after she announced she was stepping away from performing indefinitely. The 10-time JUNO award winner will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the awards ceremony.
The Southern Residents are nominated for Traditional Roots Album of The Year for their album ‘Folk Signals’. The Southern Residents consists of a bit of a Victoria all-star cast including Schott White from The Bills, Jeanne Tolmie of The Luckies, Shanti Bremer of The Sweet Lowdown and Daniel Lapp.
Former Victoria artist Alex Cuba, who had been known in the city for performing with his brother Adonis as the Puentes Brothers, is nominated in a brand new category for the JUNOS. Cuba’s album Índole is one of the inaugural nominees for Latin Music Recording of The Year.
Vancouver based indie band Peach Pit is up for Group of The Year. One of their band members is Victoria’s Dougal Bain McLean.
Finally, a couple non-musicians are also nominated for JUNO Awards. Victoria photographer Kyle Joinson is nominated for Album Artwork of The Year for Victoria metal band Spiritbox‘s ‘Tsunami Sea’ album and Victoria film maker Shiraz is nominated for Music Video of The Year as the director of Toronto Polaris Prize winning rapper Haviah Mighty’s music video for ‘OK!’
The 2026 JUNO Awards will take place in Hamilton, Ontario Sunday March 29, 2026 and will broadcast live on CBC.
For a full list of nominees go to junoawards.ca
