Dragonette performs "Hello" at the 2012 Juno Awards.

Photo courtesy of CARAS

Feist is no stranger to winning Juno Awards. The Canadian Grammy nominee won a whopping five statuettes in Calgary back in 2008. While the “1234” singer didn’t nab that many awards at last night’s Junos, Feist managed to come out on top with three wins, including the coveted Artist of the Year. She wasn’t the only artist who won big last night; newcomers The Sheepdogs took home three awards as well, including New Group of the Year and Single of the Year.

Some of the country’s top artists performed at the 2012 Juno Awards, which was broadcast live on April 1 from Ottawa’s Scotiabank Arena. Dallas Green (City and Colour), Dragonette, K’naan and Simple Plan took to the stage during the awards ceremony. However, a number of artists were no shows; Drake, Justin Bieber (who took home the Fan Choice Award), Avril Lavigne and Michael Buble – winner of the Album of the Year award for his holiday recording – were noticeably absent from the show.

While many Juno veterans like Dallas Green and Feist took home prizes, a few newbies won awards as well, including Vancouver’s Dan Mangan (who won the award for New Artist of the Year).

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Check out The Ryersonian's live blog coverage of the Juno Awards  

Read our reviews for the Best Album nominees 

Drake hosted the Junos last year to overall positive reviews, but the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) went for someone completely different this time around: William Shatner. That’s right – Captain Kirk hosted the Junos. And for someone who’s 81 years old, Shatner exuded energy and charisma. The Star Trek actor pre-taped many of his appearances, which featured him interacting with some of the night’s nominees (sort of like what Billy Crystal did at this year’s Oscars).

Deadmau5, arguably one of the most prominent Canadian artists who attended the Junos, lost the award he’s won for three years straight. Instead, Dance Recording of the Year went to Dragonette and Martin Solveig for “Hello.” But there didn’t seem to be any hard feelings for Deadmau5. He put on a memorable closing number with Lights which left the crowd roaring with applause at the end of the two-hour show.