As many of our American readers sit on the edge of their seats as the Polaris Short List 2008 is coming up, the full Polaris Long List 2008 has been leaked to the public in what could be some sort of International security snafu. Says Prize Founder and Executive Director Steve Jordan:

Our objective with the Polaris Long List is to expose even more of the essential music that's being made across the country and hopefully increase anticipation for what is sure to be a thrilling 2008 Short List."

Or maybe it was released on purpose to drum up press. Thrilling indeed Steve. Canada, my neighbor to the north and home to a quality proportion of senior editors for this website, has been running the Polaris music prize for three years, this being the first that the forty band long list has been released to the public. There's a $20,000 amount awarded to "the best full-length Canadian album released from June 1, 2007 to May 31, 2008, judged solely on artistic merit, without regard to genre or record sales. The list was selected by the 185 members of the Polaris Music Prize jury, which consists of music journalists, broadcasters and bloggers from across Canada. No music industry personnel with direct financial relationships with artists vote for Polaris."

The forty albums will be whittled down to ten as the prize is announced on July 7, 2008.