Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year
The Juno Award for "Songwriter of the Year" has been awarded since 1971, as recognition each year for the best songwriter in Canada. It was also known as the Juno Award for "Composer of the Year" from 1975 to 1990.
Formerly presented for a single song, in its contemporary form the award is presented for two or three songs by the same songwriter; as long as the songwriter is Canadian, they may be nominated for songs that were recorded or performed by non-Canadian artists. Songwriting collaborators share in the nomination if they are both Canadian and common to all of the nominated songs; collaborators will be acknowledged, but not formally included in the nomination, if they did not share credit on all of the nominated songs or if they are not Canadians.
At the Juno Awards of 2025, a new category was introduced for Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year (Non-Performer), to better distinguish artists who perform their own self-written material from songwriters who wrote material for other artists.
Winners
Best Songwriter (1971 - 1974)
Composer of the Year (1975 - 1990)
- 1975 - Paul Anka
- 1976 - Hagood Hardy, "The Homecoming"
- 1977 - Gordon Lightfoot, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
- 1978 - Dan Hill, "Sometimes When We Touch"
- 1979 - Dan Hill, "Sometimes When We Touch"
- 1980 - Frank Mills, "Peter Piper"
- 1981 - Eddie Schwartz, "Hit Me with Your Best Shot"
- 1982 - Mike Reno / Paul Dean, "Turn Me Loose"
- 1983 - Bob Rock / Paul Hyde, "Eyes of a Stranger"
- 1984 - Bryan Adams / Jim Vallance, "Cuts Like a Knife"
- 1985 - Bryan Adams / Jim Vallance
- 1986 - Jim Vallance
- 1987 - Jim Vallance
- 1989 - Tom Cochrane
- 1990 - David Tyson / Christopher Ward