William Prince, Nadia Gaudet and Jason Burnstick top Manitoba's 2016 WCMA nominees

William Prince, Romi Mayes and Don Amero are among the 27 Manitoba performers who picked up Western Canadian Music Award nominations Tuesday morning.

Manitobans nabbed nominations in 21 categories this year, with the awards scheduled to be doled out in Regina at the BreakOut West festival in October.

"We always do bat above our weight for our population," said Sean McManus, Manitoba Music's executive director. "There have been years, I will admit, where we've had a ridiculous number of nominees – almost half of them – considering there's four provinces involved, [but it's] not the case this year."

Manitoba dominated the Aboriginal Artist of the Year and Francophone Artist of the Year categories, with local artists three of the five nominations in both.

Nadia Gaudet and Jason Burnstick, Don Amero and William Prince all got nods in the Aboriginal category, while Jocelyn Barbieau, Justin Lacroix Band and Nadia Gaudet and Jason Burnstick got nods in the Francophone category.

"This is [William Prince's] first time being nominated at all for any of these awards. He's a guy that's been around for a long time writing and doing music and he's kind of stepped up in terms of getting his name out there and connecting with industry and his marketing," said McManus. "This record that has come out [Earthly Days] is a beautiful record. Everybody that hears it loves it."

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In the WCMA's brand new category, BreakOut Artist of the Year, The Bros. Landreth are representing Manitoba.

And the province even got some love for categories it doesn't normally do well in – Ghost Twin is nominated in the Electronic/Dance category.

"It's really fun to be able to put these artists up on the stage and celebrate the hard work that goes into it. A lot of artists at this level are struggling even to make a living at music," said McManus.

"The whole event, BreakOut West, is really about getting artists together to play the festival, to go to the conference to learn more about the business side of what they're doing and connect with the greater industry and taking that next step in terms of their careers."

BreakOut West is scheduled for Oct. 13-16 in Regina.

Manitobans nominated for 2016 WCMAS

BreakOut Artist of the Year

The Bros. Landreth

Electronic/Dance Artist of the Year

Ghost Twin

Pop Artist of the Year

JP Hoe

Metal/Hard Music Artist of the Year

KEN mode

Roots Solo Artist of the Year

William Prince

Roots Duo/Group of the Year

Crooked Brothers

Sweet Alibi

Blues Artist of the Year

Romi Mayes

Country Artist of the Year

Keith and Renee

Jazz Artist of the Year

Curtis Nowosad Quintet

Children's Artist of the Year

Nadia Gaudet & Jason Burnstick

Aboriginal Artist of the Year

Don Amero

Nadia Gaudet & Jason Burnstick

William Prince

Francophone Artist of the Year

Jocelyne Baribeau

Justin Lacroix Band

Nadia Gaudet & Jason Burnstick

Classical Artist/Ensemble of the Year

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Instrumental Artist of the Year

Daniel Koulack

Classical Composition of the Year

Of Heart and Tide - Sid Robinovitch

Producer of the Year

Dana "Rusty" Matyas - Federal Lights, Coeur de Lion

Visual Media Composer of the Year

Graham Epp - FM Youth

Industry Nominees Community Excellence Award

West End Cultural Centre

Excellence in Visual Design

Roberta Hansen – The Small Glories

Impact in Artist Development

Paquin Artists Agency

Impact in Live Music

West End Cultural Centre

Winnipeg Folk Festival