Searchlight 2015: the hunt for Canada's best new artist returns

The hunt for Canada's best new musical act is back.

We are partnering with CBC Radio One to find the best local music acts to compete for the crown. The winner will receive $20,000 in gear from Yamaha Canada Music, a gig at a major festival and more.

Here's another wrinkle: you can vote for up to 10 acts a day in each region. That means you and your friends in other bands can work together to help promote the local music scene and support each other, and can carry that support on to the national round. There is also a powerhouse panel of celebrity judges at the national round, so we can balance the voice of the fans with an impartial jury of music experts.

We want you to enter. Your town wants you to enter. Canada wants you to enter. So how do you enter?

You'll need a CBC Music account. If you don't have one, sign up for a CBC Music artist account (and fill out the bio and upload a picture, because it will make it easier for journalists covering the contest to do stories about you). Then you'll need a song that's been written by you or the roster of musicians performing in your band (it should be fewer than five minutes, too).

We want new bands (and solo acts, duos, combos, etc.) to step up, and bands who entered last year to put their experience to work and try again this time around.

If you have any questions, email us at searchlight@cbc.ca.

Listen to some of our favourite discoveries from last year, and find out more about them in this gallery.

For more on Searchlight, follow @mikeminer.