23 straight country music video awards is enough for Surrey director
Published 11:00 am Tuesday, March 17, 2026
After winning 23 consecutive annual awards from BC Country Music Association for best music video direction, Stephano Barberis says it’s time for someone else to be in the spotlight.
In what many deem a classy move by the acclaimed director, the Surrey-based Barberis decided to pull his name from this year’s BCCMA Video Director award category, and every year moving forward.
The association’s 2026 awards weekend is April 24-26 at Coquitlam’s Great Canadian Casino.
Barberis was creating another “For Your Consideration” promo reel for judges to see when he realized 23 straight BCCMA awards was enough.
Starting in 1997, Barberis has directed music videos for Dallas Smith, Aaron Pritchett, The Washboard Union, Karen Lee Batten and many other country/pop artists over the years.
“I feel like I brought B.C. to the national stage and turned the spotlight to us, music video-wise,” Barberis posted on Facebook. “I’ve been blessed with 13 CCMA Director and Video awards and 47 in total from various organisations.”
The BCCMA, he says, is great for a developing artist in a technical art like video direction “to use as a step to the next stage. It’s a great transitional step stool to the next chapter, not a permanent bed to hog and sleep in” — hence his decision to pull his name from awards consideration moving forward.
“It may even help reinvigorate the category and make it more exciting. It will help up-and-coming artists from this province,” Barberis wrote.
“I’m sorry I took too long to do something that should have been done years ago,” he added. “I think as artists we need to become careful to not fall in love with prizes and fall out of love with creating. We can’t have our lives revolve around the next competition, year round. It’s art, not the Olympics.”
Barberis, currently editing the 222nd music video he’s directed, says he’ll continue directing “on all cylinders whatever I can get my hands on, but this sweet provincial organisation can live without my name in the Director category.”
Art is Barberis’s oxygen, he says.
“I’m not going anywhere,” the director insists. “You will still hopefully see my work being nominated in the future and you can vote for me via that video category conduit if you like what I create. You can continue to support me at the national and other levels as well, if I may be so fortunate. This year, a video I directed (JoJo Mason’s ‘Gold’) is nominated, and I’d love for you to consider supporting that.”
RELATED: 10 questions for Stephano Barberis, Surrey’s award-winning music video director, from 2020.