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Awards
Grammys get an overhaul
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 7 April 2011
The Grammys have announced that they are planning some major changes in time for next year’s ceremony. Around 31 categories will be cut, meaning that the number of gongs will drop from 109 to 78, and that the ceremony will last about two days instead of three.
The changes will mean that gendered awards will be lost across the board; for example, in categories such as pop, rock, and R&B, instead of there being separate gongs for male, female and group vocals, just one prize will be handed out. There will also be a smaller number of awards in genres such as classical music, gospel and folk, whilst some instrumental categories will be phased out. Meanwhile, some of the smaller fields – Hawaiian, Native American, Zydeco/Cajun and polka – will be made into one ‘regional roots’ section.
There are also some new rules about how entries will qualify: Categories must have at least 40 entries – this used to be 25 – to generate a shortlist of five nominees, and sections with between 25 and 39 entries will have three nominees only. If the entry figure drops below 25, no award will be given in that category, and if that happens for three consecutive years, the category will be dropped entirely.
