Polaris Music Prize award boosted to $50,000

Gary Slaight, left, in Toronto, on Apr.12, 2007. (CP / Nathan Denette)

TORONTO - The Polaris Music Prize just got richer.

The annual award for the best Canadian album of the year has boosted its prize purse from $30,000 to $50,000 for the winner.

Slaight Music president and philanthropist Gary Slaight contributed the extra funding, while also boosting the money awarded to the rest of the annual award's shortlisted acts, from $2,000 to $3,000.

The Polaris winner is determined by a jury of Canadian music journalists, broadcasters and bloggers.

Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq won the most recent Polaris, while other winners include Feist, Arcade Fire and Caribou.

The initial list of contenders for this year's award will be announced June 16, with the short list being unveiled a month later.