Félix-Leclerc Prize | Gab Bouchard, Lou-Adriane Cassidy and Jeanne Côté in the running

(Montreal) Gab Bouchard, Lou-Adriane Cassidy, Jeanne Côté and the duo Rau_Ze are in the running for the Félix-Leclerc prize, awarded to young French-speaking artists during the Francos de Montréal.

Last year, singer-songwriter Ariane Roy was the Quebec winner for this prize, which each year rewards an emerging artist in Quebec and France.

The winning artists have the opportunity to perform the following year at the music festival of the other country – the Francofolies de La Rochelle for the Quebec artist and the Francos de Montréal for the French artist. In Quebec, the prize also comes with a $1,500 scholarship.

The last few years have been good in terms of awards for nominated artists. The singer-songwriter from Saguenay Gab Bouchard won the SOCAN song prize in 2023 for Your shift is not overco-written with Mathieu Quenneville.

For her part, Lou-Adriane Cassidy received the Slaight Music Prize in 2022. Cassidy is currently touring shows with two former winners of the Félix-Leclerc Prize: Ariane Roy and Thierry Larose, winner in 2022.

As for Jeanne Côté and Rau_Ze, they won the Francouvertes competition in 2023 and 2022.

The other artists nominated for the prize are Grand Eugène, K! RA OJI, Marco Ema, Valence and Virginie B. Valence also won the Francouvertes in 2020.

The prize will be awarded during the Francos de Montréal, which takes place from June 14 to 22. The Quebec jury is made up of Claudine Prévost, Marc-André Mongrain, Estelle Grignon, Philippe Renaud and Dominic Tardif.