Leslie Feist won the Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year and swept the other 1-2-3-4 categories in which she was nominated. Feist picked up Junos for single of the year (for her hit song “1234”) and album and pop album of the year (both for The Reminder) on April 6 at the televised awards show in Calgary, her old hometown. The day before, at a non-televised gala, she was also named both artist and songwriter of the year.

Feist said backstage that the songwriting award meant the most. "[Songwriting is] the little seed, that's very private," she said. "It's something that has nothing to do with all the workings of the machine, all the mechanisms, that make people actually hear your record. It has more to do with muscle, and something more to do with gut and instinct. Songwriting is really difficult for me, so I'm so surprised and so honoured to be counted among the people in the category, let alone win."

Blue Rodeo garnered three Juno awards, for group, adult alternative album (for Small Miracles) and video of the year (for "C'mon"). Michael Bublé was the Juno fan choice award winner, his only honour of the night. Other winners at the non-televised gala included Arcade Fire's Neon Bible for alternative album; Finger Eleven's Them Vs. You Vs. Me for rock album; Belly's The Revolution for rap recording; and Alex Cuba's Agua Del Pozo for best world music album. Serena Ryder won new artist of the year; and Jully Black's Revival won for R&B/soul recording. Christos Hatzis won classical composition of the year for Constantinople, and Daniel Bélanger won Francophone album of the year (for L’échec du matériel).

On the afternoon of April 6, during the Juno weekend leading up to the awards, SOCAN co-sponsored (with the Canadian Music Publishers Association) the Songwriters’ Circle – an intimate afternoon concert featuring (in two sets) Alex Cuba, Jeremy Fisher, Serena Ryder, Tegan Quin (of Tegan and Sara), Jay Malinowski (of Bedouin Soundclash), Corb Lund and host Joel Plaskett. The circle, which drew a near-capacity crowd, was presented at the EPCOR Centre’s Jack Singer Concert Hall.

At various times, performers in the circle had the audience laughing, clapping or hushed. In the first set, Plaskett began things with a humorous adaptation of "Love This Town" that referenced Calgary as host city of the Junos. Fisher sang "Scar That Never Heals" with Ryder providing compelling harmonies. Ryder then performed "When the Truth Just Walks Away," to be released on her next album. Other notable moments included a haunting rendition of Fisher's "Lay Down (Ballad of Rigoberto Alpizar)" which ended with the audience joining in on the final chorus; and an improvised jam between Cuba and Ryder, with Ryder using her guitar as a percussive instrument.

The second set featured Calgary hometown heroes Lund and Quin, both of whom received hearty receptions, as well as Malinowski. Highlights included Quin's "Dark Come Soon," Lund's "The Horse I Rode In On," Malinowski's "Jeb Brand" – inspired by the Robert Mitchum film The Pursuit – and Plaskett's "Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'," which is to be recorded in an upcoming collaboration with his father, Bill Plaskett.