The Grammys are up there with the Oscars as one of the most well-known awards shows in entertainment arts. While the Oscars celebrate filmmaking, the Grammys honor musicians, music producers, and others who are involved in the music industry.

Music’s Biggest Night

What makes the Grammys “Music’s Biggest Night?” The Recording Academy gives out coveted awards to music industry professionals in a wide range of categories to recognize and honor their work. The Grammys has been considered one of the major annual award shows in entertainment since 1959 when the first ceremony took place. Those who end up being Grammy winners receive a golden gramophone trophy.

This award show started after music industry professionals realized the need for rewarding achievements in music, similar to the way the Oscars honors filmmaking and the Emmys honor TV productions. Over the years, the categories that are part of the Grammys have been changed or adjusted, such as the combining categories or creating separate ones.

Grammy Nomination and Selection Process

How are nominees chosen for the Grammys? This process starts with the submission of physical recordings or online streamed recordings for consideration in a certain field, such as New Age, Producer of the Year, or Remixed Recording. Professional Academy members and Voting Academy members are allowed to submit recordings of their own or peer recordings for consideration. Registered media companies are also eligible to submit recordings for consideration.

First and second round voting then takes place for different fields:

• All Recording Academy voters vote for certain categories, including Alternative, Comedy, Musical Theater, Pop, Reggae, Spoken Word, Traditional Pop, and Visual Media.
• Craft committees determine the nominee choices for final voting in Composing/Arranging, Engineering, and Producer of the Year after Recording Academy members cast their votes.
• Nomination review committees determine nominees for final voting in several categories, including General Field, World Music, Rock, Jazz, Latin, Classical, Country, and more after Recording Academy members vote.
• Craft committees determine the nominees for final voting for Album Notes, Historical, Package, Remixed Recording, and Immersive Audio. Recording Academy members do not place votes for these categories.

Final voting is done by voting members of the Recording Academy, and this round of voting determines the official nominees in each category.

Main Grammy Categories and Past Winners

The Grammys includes a total of 84 categories ranging from Record of the Year and Best Performances to Best Engineered Classical Album and Best Historical Album. These individual categories are divided into groups of main categories, including General Field, Alternative, Music for Visual Media, Music Video/Film, Rock, Country, Rap, Composing/Arranging, World Music, and more.

Some of the winners from years past include Dua Lipa for Best New Artist and Childish Gambino’s This Is America for Record and Song of the Year at the 61st Annual Grammys in 2019, “That’s What I Like” for Song of the Year at the 60th Annual Grammys, and Adele’s 25 as Album of the Year at the 59th Annual Grammys.

Grammy Awards 2020 is on the Way

The 62nd Annual Grammys will be held on January 26th at 5pm (PST) in LA at the Staples Center and will be hosted once again by award-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys. Notable nominees for this year’s Grammys include Lizzo with eight total nominations, Billie Eilish with six nominations, and Lil Was X with six nominations.

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The Grammys is just one of the major awards highly coveted by in entertainment arts. If you aspire to be in the forefront of the industry, much like the big artists’ that are regularly invited to events like the Grammys, get started by earning a degree in music production.

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