Rose Cousins, Jenn Grant, Kinley, The East Pointers grab ECMA noms

P.E.I. has 13 official nominations for the 30th edition of the East Coast Music Awards, while many more acts who are originally from P.E.I., including Rose Cousins and Jenn Grant, unofficially take the number higher.

Cousins, who's from Cousin's Shore, P.E.I., but now makes her home in Halifax, leads the pack with eight nominations. Jenn Grant, also raised on P.E.I. and now N.S.-based, follows with six nominations.

Kinley has four nominations — she's in good company with Nova Scotia's Ria Mae and Joel Plaskett.

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Cousins and her album Natural Conclusion are nominated for best folk, solo and album of the year, songwriter of the year, song of the year for Grace, fans' choice entertainer of the year, fans' choice video of the year for her video Chains, and video of the year for White Flag directed by Shehab Ilyas.

Grant and her album Paradise are up for best pop, album and solo recording, songwriter of the year, song of the year for Galaxies, and fans' choice video of the year for the Galaxies video.

Kinley Dowling, who performs solo as just Kinley, is nominated for rising star and best pop recording for her album Letters Never Sent. She's also up for best song and fans' choice video for Microphone, which describes the night 15 years ago on which Dowling said a young man she barely knew sexually assaulted her at a post-prom field party.

The East Pointers, who are now on tour in New Zealand, are up for best folk and group recording as well as songwriter of the year for What We Leave Behind. They took home a Juno in the spring.

Juno-award winning Catherine MacLellan is nominated for best folk recording for her album If It's Alright With You, a tribute to her father Gene MacLellan.

P.E.I. native Whitney Rose, who now makes her home in Austin, Texas, is nominated for best country recording for her latest album South Texas Suite.

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Best event

In the industry awards, Cavendish Beach Music Festival and the PEI Mutual Festival of Small Halls are both nominated for best event.

P.E.I. native Daniel Ledwell is nominated for producer of the year.

The Mack, part of the Confederation Centre of the Arts, is nominated for best venue.

And the Barbershop Sessions have been nominated for best media outlet.

Plenty of Island acts will showcase their work at the 2018 festival and conference this year, including MacLellan, Andrew Waite and the Firm, Dylan Menzie, Rachel Beck, The East Pointers and The Royal North.

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To vote for your fan favourites, visit thechronicleherald.ca/ecma. The public can vote once a day until March 16 at 5 p.m. 

The awards show itself will be hosted by P.E.I.-born comedian Jonathan Torrens May 3 at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.  

See the full list of nominees on the ECMA website.

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