The Canadian Folk Music Award for Indigenous Songwriter of the Year is a Canadian award, presented as part of the Canadian Folk Music Awards to honour the year's best songwriting by First Nations and Inuit artists. Unlike many songwriting awards, the nomination is given in consideration of all of the songwriting on a whole album rather than singling out individual songs. Awards are also presented for English Songwriter of the Year and French Songwriter of the Year.
The award was formerly presented as Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year, and was renamed from aboriginal to indigenous in 2018.
| Year | Nominee | Album | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 1st Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| No award presented | |||
| 2006 2nd Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Wayne Lavallee | Green Dress | [1] | |
| Digging Roots | seeds | [2] | |
| Don Freed | The Valley of Green and Blue | ||
| Art Napoleon | Miyoskamin | ||
| Laura Vinson | It Reminds Me | ||
| 2007 3rd Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Sandy Scofield | Nikawiy Askiy | [3] | |
| Leela Gilday | Sedzé | [4] | |
| Ry Moran | Groundwater | ||
| Karen Donaldson Shepherd (The Crow Girls) | Where the Green Grass Grows | ||
| Laura Vinson | Mossbag Lullaby | ||
| 2008 4th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| No award presented | |||
| 2009 5th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Don Amero | Deepening | [5] | |
| Vince Fontaine, Jay Bodner, Chris Burke-Gaffney (Eagle & Hawk) | Sirensong | [6] | |
| Violet Naytowhow | Wind of the North | ||
| Buffy Sainte-Marie | Running for the Drum | ||
| Tanya Tagaq | Auk/Blood |
| Year | Nominee | Album | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 6th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Asani | Listen | [7] | |
| Eagle and Hawk | The Great Unknown | ||
| Wayne Lavallee | Trail of Tears | ||
| Brenda MacIntyre | Medicine Song | ||
| Tom Racine | Three Mile Junction | ||
| 2011 7th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Vince Fontaine | Songs for Turtle Island | ||
| Don Amero | The Long Way Home | [8] | |
| Robert Davidson, Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson | New Journeys | ||
| Janet Panic | Samples | ||
| Kristi Lane Sinclair | I Love You | ||
| 2012 8th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| No award presented | |||
| 2013 9th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Nancy Mike (The Jerry Cans) | Nunavuttitut | [9] | |
| Don Amero | Heart on My Sleeve | [10] | |
| Vince Fontaine (Indian City) | Supernation | ||
| Diem Lafortune | Beauty and Hard Times | ||
| Kristi Lane Sinclair | The Sea Alone | ||
| 2014 10th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Amanda Rheaume, John MacDonald | Keep a Fire | [11] | |
| Buffy & Larry | Surrounded | [12] | |
| Vince Fontaine (Indian City) | Colors | ||
| Jasmine Netsena | Take You With Me | ||
| Tanya Tagaq | Animism | ||
| 2015 11th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Raven Kanatakta and ShoShona Kish (Digging Roots) | For the Light | [13] | |
| Miranda Currie | Up in the Air | [14] | |
| The Jerry Cans | Aakuluk | ||
| Buffy Sainte-Marie | Power in the Blood | ||
| Laura Vinson and Free Spirit | Warrior | ||
| 2016 12th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Twin Flames | Jaaji and Chelsey June | [15] | |
| Digawolf | Great Northern Man | [16] | |
| Nadia Gaudet and Jason Burnstick | Dream Big, Little One / Fais de beaux rêves, petit ange | ||
| William Prince | Earthly Days | ||
| Amanda Rheaume | Holding Patterns | ||
| 2017 13th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Twin Flames | Signal Fire | [17] | |
| Desiree Dorion | Tough Street | [18] | |
| Lisa Muswagon | Buffalo and Rabbits | ||
| Cindy Paul | The Flight | ||
| Julian Taylor, Kinnie Starr, John Parente, Bill Bell | Desert Star | ||
| 2018 14th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Shauit | Apu peikussiaku | [19] | |
| Tiffany Ayalik, Grey Gritt (Quantum Tangle) | Shelter as we go... | [20] | |
| Buffy Sainte-Marie | Medicine Songs | ||
| Dennis Shorty | Gucho Hin | ||
| Sandra Sutter | Cluster Stars |
| Year | Nominee | Album | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 15th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Diyet van Lieshout | Diyet & the Love Soldiers | [21] | |
| Sugar Plum Croxen, Shelley Hamilton, George Elliott Clarke (The Afro-Métis Nation) | Constitution | [22] | |
| Jenelle Duval, Danielle Benoit, Stacey Howse (Eastern Owl) | Qama’si | ||
| Joshua Haulli | Aqqut | ||
| Mike Paul | Origine | ||
| 2021 16th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Leela Gilday | North Star Calling | [23] | |
| Jason and Nadia Burnstick | Kîyânaw | [24] | |
| A. W. Cardinal | Bare Knuckles & Brawn | ||
| Riit | ataataga | ||
| Crystal Shawanda | Church House Blues | ||
| 2022 17th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Chelsey June & Jaaji | Omen | [25] | |
| David Laronde | I Know I Can Fly | [26] | |
| Laura Niquay | Waska Matisiwin | ||
| Phyllis Sinclair | Ghost Bones | ||
| Morgan Toney | First Flight | ||
| 2023 18th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Amanda Rheaume | The Spaces in Between | ||
| Berk Jodoin | Half Breed | [27] | |
| ShoShona Kish, Raven Kanatakta Polson-Lahache | Zhawenim | ||
| Kyle McKearney | Down-Home | ||
| Adrian Sutherland | When the Magic Hits | ||
| 2024 19th Canadian Folk Music Awards | |||
| Kaeley Jade Wiebe | Turpentine | [28] | |
| Cynthia Hamar | Joint & Marrow | [29] | |
| Kyle McKearney | A Traveler's Lament | ||
| Qattuu | Midnight Sun | ||
| Geneviève Toupin | Maison vent |