Eleven awards were presented on Sept. 15 as part of the SPACQ (Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec) Foundation Awards. The 2009 gala event was held in Montreal and hosted by the singer-songwriter Louise Forestier. The winners were:

• Gaële and Andréa Lindsay – the André "Dédé" Fortin Award, presented to an emerging artist
• Fred Pellerin – the Gilles Vigneault Award, presented to a new songwriter
• François Cousineau – the André Gagnon Award, presented to an instrumental music composer
• The late Jean-Marie Benoît – the Richard Grégoire Award, presented to an audio-visual music composer
• Jim Corcoran – the Eddy Marnay Award, presented to songwriter for his/her involvement in advocacy for creators
• Daniel Lavoie – the Robert Charlebois Award, presented to a songwriter for his/her international career
• Pascal Lejeune and Tricia Forster – the SPACQ Award for songwriters from a Francophone community living in a minority situation in Canada
• Pierre Lapointe – the Luc Plamondon Award, presented to a song lyricist
• Dumas – the François Cousineau Award, presented to a composer of the music for a song
• Renée Claude – the Lucille Dumont Award, presented to a performer
• Clémence DesRochers – the Sylvain Lelièvre Award, presented for an outstanding career in songwriting

All award recipients expressed their gratitude for this honour and unanimously thanked the singer-songwriter Diane Juster for her efforts as the instigator and tireless organizer of the SPACQ Foundation’s annual event. The inimitable author and tale-teller Fred Pellerin quoted an older citizen from his legendary home village of St-Élie-de-Caxton who used to say, "When I was young, I sang to change the world, now I sing so that the world doesn’t change me." The unassuming Jim Corcoran, who received an award for his part in making French-language music known to English-speaking audiences for the past 20 years as host of a CBC Radio 2 music program, said that this had been easy for him because he had always been a "groupie." Daniel Lavoie thanked the arts patrons sitting in the audience and recalled that he had "decided to sing in French when he heard Robert Charlebois as a budding artist" back in his native Manitoba. Charlebois returned the compliment by saying that he "wished he has written" Lavoie’s signature song "Ils s’aiment" ("The’re in Love").

Jean-Marie Benoît’s daughter, who accepted her father’s posthumous award, moved the audience to tears when she thanked SPACQ "for helping my father die with his head held high." Dumas chose to take a friendly jab at the audience by saying that he was "honoured to accept this award in front of so many artists who have inspired me. The authors of 95% of my vinyl collection are here today!" Finally, singer-songwriter and comedian Clémence DesRochers, winner the Sylvain Lelièvre songwriting award, lodged a tongue-in-cheek complaint that her songs were not playing enough on radio. "Couldn’t they create a radio station just for has-beens?" she asked.

Among the many guests from the Quebec cultural, political and financial scenes who attended the luncheon ceremony were the awards’ sponsors, Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay and a number of SOCAN representatives, including Member Services Vice-President France Lafleur and Quebec Region Member Services Manager Joanne Pouliot.