Weakerthans, Karkwa Win ECHO Songwriting Prizes

Although Reunion Tour didn't win last week's Polaris Music Prize, The Weakerthans made it two-out-of-three victories in Canadian music awards with cash incentives in the last three weeks and are now $5,000 richer after claiming the ECHO Songwriting Prize for Reunion Tour's "Night Windows" on Wednesday.

"Night Windows" was co-written by band members Stephen Carroll, John Samson, Greg Smith and Jason Tait. The Weakerthans beat out songs by Veda Hille ("Lucklucky"), Wintersleep ("Weighty Ghost"), Sandro Perri ("Double Suicide") and Socalled ("You Are Never Alone") to take the prize, which is in its third year.

Karkwa won the francophone version of the award, the Prix De La Chanson ECHO, for "Oublie Pas." It was written by the group's Louis-Jean Cormier and Francois Lafontaine.

An independent panel of 10 music journalists, radio hosts, music programmers and festival organizers selected the nominated songs they felt best showcased the variety and creativity of Canadian independent music. The public then voted from Sept. 1 to 29 to decide the winners.

The ECHO Songwriting Prize is presented by The Society Of Composers, Authors And Music Publishers Of Canada (SOCAN). The previous winners were Abdominal, Tricot Machine, Propagandhi and Eve Cournoyer.

The Weakerthans took home the $25,000 artist of the year award at The Verge Music Awards, presented by XM Satellite Radio, last month.