11/16/2025
MusicNL week is in the books for another year! This one feels weird for me and it’s not because of the camaraderie which is always a highlight for me.
As many of you know or don’t know, I wasn’t eligible for MusicNL awards this year because of the new term limits on the industry awards this year for people who won awards two out of three years. My fellow media colleagues Alick Tsui and Chris Deacon being affected by it.
While I am in agreement of putting them in place to allow more people to compete for a chance at awards I have been fortunate to win twice, there was definitely some FOMO from the awards this year. Ever since I have been going to these, all I ever wanted was to receive one of those awards for something that I have always wanted to do since I was young and that’s media. That’s been a large part of why I have been going to these conferences to start with.
For most of my life, I haven’t had much belief in myself and I felt like a fraud most days because I felt like what I was doing wasn’t important. Receiving those awards were a huge boost to my confidence and gave validity to what I was doing as an independent creator.
However, while the awards are nice, what excited me the most for this year in particular is the impact the Musical Connections podcast has had since I launched it three years ago. Many people are using this show in their applications for awards and grants and it’s giving them one or the other or both! This is what does my heart good for this year’s MusicNL week.
I have also met some amazing people because of it and watch acts and professionals flourish as well! While you’ll see me in the awards convo next year, if there’s any media person, industry pro that would like help with an award application next year, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’ll leave you with this. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t win, getting nominated is just as important as winning because your work is being recognized. You should all be proud of the work you are putting out. It’s been one of the most competitive MusicNL awards I’ve seen so far because everyone is putting out great content! I hope the same for next year.