A Drumheller man had the honour to be an adjudicator for Canada’s top music prize, and the best part, his selection won.
Geoff Bourrie, owner of Jurraisc Ink and one of the key organizers of the Loud as Hell Heavy Metal Festival in Drumheller, was picked by the Juno Awards as a judge to select the top Metal/ Hard Music Album of the year for 2025.
“It was a cool experience being from a small town like Drumheller to getting to judge for Canada's largest music award,” he said.
Bourrie has been active in the independent music scene for years. The Loud as Hell Festival has been going on for 13 years, as well as three other festivals. He judges rock and metal battles in Calgary.
“I try to help out as much as I can. Being from a small town like Drumheller, it is a little difficult to get out to these festivals, but I do my best. In the summer, we hit festivals all over summer in Alberta and B.C.,” he said.
It was this hard work and networking that got him recognized.
“My name has gotten around in the independent music culture in Alberta. The Junos contacted me and said, ‘your name has come across our desk and we think you would fit,’” said Bourrie.
He filled out the application, and he was chosen.
He has had experience in judging. The Loud as Hell Festival sponsors the Calgary Music Awards and the Manitoba Music Awards.
It wasn’t just as simple as picking his favourite record. He was sent 28 albums to review and to send in the top 10 list. From there, they winnowed down the nominees to five. They went over the nominees with even more scrutiny and selected a winner.
This year's Juno winner for Metal/Hard Music Album was Anciient, and the album was Beyond the Reach of the Sun.
Bourrie says that after his review of the 28 albums, he ranked them in second place. When he looked at the five finalists, he sent them to his number one selection
Anciient performed last year at the Loud as Hell Festival.

A man received a suspended sentence of two years less one day in a historic case of Indecent Assault in the Alberta Court of Justice in Drumheller on Friday, May 23.
The man, who cannot be identified, entered a guilty plea to one charge of indecent assault from an incident stemming from 1974.
The court heard how the man, who was 22 years of age at the time, had had intercourse with the victim, who was 13 years old at the time of the assault.
Defensive counsel explained during proceedings that the incident and charges predate the Criminal Code of Sexual Assault and, at the time, Indecent Assault was defined in the Canadian Criminal Code as any person who “indecently assaults a female person” and who is “liable to imprisonment for five years, and to be whipped.”
Although the charges are from an incident more than 50 years prior, the man expressed remorse, embarrassment, and shame at his actions, immediately accepting responsibility and instructing defensive counsel to engage in resolution discussions. He also expressed that he did not wish to make the victim stand trial.
The victim, likewise, expressed that they did not wish to see the accused face time in jail.
Crown and counsel entered a joint submission for the suspended sentence for a period of two years less one day. For the first six months of the sentence, the man will be required to abide by a 24-hour curfew, with a revised curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for the remainder of the sentence thereafter.