Canadian Blues Music Awards is an incorporated national not-for-profit whose mandate is to govern, create, operate, maintain and update the CBMA and its processes.  

Many months of research, consultation, and development resulted in a wholly independent organization that created a foundation of governance, a fair and inclusive process, transparency, and nationwide engagement, intended to maximize the integrity and impartiality of the awards.

The Canadian Blues Music Awards system includes:

•  Submissions for award consideration

•  Voting conducted by a panel of judges, selected from a jury pool of industry experts, who must apply to ensure their expertise, and geographical diversity & national representation, with all voting independent and anonymous (except for Fan Favourite, which continues to engage the public in the process)

•  Developing a large jury pool of experts, and measuring applications, reviewing and screening to ensure applicant experience and expertise in a number of blues-related fields

•  Selecting judges from the jury pool each year, reflecting geographical diversity, and creating full national representation;  all voting is independent and anonymous

•  Lifetime Achievement and Industry Person awards now nominated by qualifying blues societies, festivals, and venues, for voting by the judges

•  Involving more regional blues societies to participate in the process, increasing regional representation

•  Creating a dedicated website for online submissions, jury applications, and voting.

As a Not For Profit, all CBMA activities are overseen by the Governing Committee, who oversee the process, with clear governance guidelines, to protect and preserve the integrity and impartiality of the Canadian Blues Music Awards and all its processes, including for categories, submissions, impartial judging, voting procedures, & tabulations for the Awards.  

The Governing Committee determines the governance, structure, and all processes of the CBMAs, and oversees all stages thereof, ensuring full documentation of all mandates, mission statements,  et cetera.

Governing Committee Members:

•  are selected through an application process

•  demonstrate extensive blues music industry experience

•  each new member is selected by a majority ballot vote by the membership of the Committee

•  must agree to fulfill the required time, impartiality, and confidentiality commitment, and sign an agreement thereof.

And equally represent at least 3 of 5 Canadian regions:

•  Atlantic (New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Labrador)

•  Quebec / Nunavut

•  Ontario

•  Prairies (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories)

•  British Columbia / Yukon Territory

Committee members cannot submit entries in any categories, and are not eligible for the jury pool or judging.

The eligibility period for recordings is 13 months, i.e. September 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027, etc.

Each year, artist submissions will be open for two months:

•  from August 1 to September 30

Each year, two rounds of jury voting will run:

•  from October through November

with the winner in each category confidentially determined by the end of voting, and the final five nominees in each category publicly announced in January.