The 2005 Juno Awards announced their nominations on Monday and singer Avril Lavigne leads the way with five nominations, including artist of the year, best songwriter and fans’ choice. Avril’s nominations also include album of the year and best pop album for Under My Skin, which included the hit song “Complicated.” The success of the CD earned one of its producers, Raine Maida a nomination as well. Mr. Maida is better known as the frontman of the band Our Lady Peace.

West Coast singer Diana Krall has netted four nominations for the annual Canadian music showdown (Canada’s answer to the Grammy Awards). Krall’s The Girl in the Other Room marked the singer’s first album of mostly original material. Songwriting duties for this album were shared with her husband Elvis Costello.

There are thirty-nine categories this year including a new one for best adult alternative album. Juno organizers, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, are optimistic that the new category will embrace some of Canada’s more eclectic musicians, who more often than not, get pushed out of the top categories by more mainstream artists.

According to academy president Melanie Berry, “There’s some music that we didn’t seem to be getting into the exact correct category. It was time to look at that and try to frame a category that would fit these phenomenal Canadian artists.”

Competing for this particular newly developed category will be Matt Mays, Sarah Harmer, Ron Sexsmith, Sarah Slean and Rufus Wainwright.

The 34th annual Juno awards will be held on April 3rd at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba and will be hosted by comedian Brent Butt. Also during the awards show, longtime rockers The Tragically Hip will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. The show will be broadcast live on CTV and is sure to prove a good time!

To learn more about the Junos, check this site out-
www.juno-awards.ca