Voting Academy


About The BRIT Awards Voting Academy

The BRIT Awards Voting Academy are responsible for determining the shortlists and the overall winners of the majority of the awards categories (except for Rising Star which is voted on by a separate panel).

The Voting Academy is made up of around 1200 individuals from a wide cross-section of the UK music industry, and since 2017 the membership of the Academy has been refreshed annually.

The Voting Academy members include representatives from the following sectors: artists, record labels, managers, press, media and journalists, publishers, producers, retailers, promoters, digital music services and other music business suppliers such as legal and financial services.

For many of the sectors listed above, the BRITs work with relevant trade associations representing those sectors, inviting their members to register for the BRITs Voting Academy. These trade associations include the Music Managers Forum (MMF), the Music Publishers Association (MPA), the Music Producers Guild (MPG), the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), the Concert Promoters Association (CPA) as well as BPI members and our colleagues at the Official Charts Company (OCC).

The Academy and the voting process, including all public voting is overseen by Civica – an independent voting scrutineer.


Voting Academy Demographics

The Voting Academy is refreshed annually to ensure it remains reflective of the industry and society as a whole.  The Voting Academy is annually composed of approximately 1,200 individuals drawn from across the music industry and media, including artists, managers, producers, publishers, record labels, retailers and more.

Out of 1,468 invitations, 1,348 have taken up the invitation and been successfully registered to be on the BRITs Voting Academy for 2024.

 

 

45% of the BRIT Awards Voting Academy identify as female/woman, with 42% identifying as male/man, and 1% identifying as non-binary. Some 12% of those registered preferred not to say.

 

Breakdown by Gender

 

 

24% of the Voting Academy identify as Black, Asian, or of ethnic minority background – 11% identify as Black, 4% identify as Asian, 8% identify as being from mixed or multiple ethnic groups, and 1% selected 'other ethnic group'. 60% of the Voting Academy identified as White.

 

Breakdown by Ethnicity

27% of those registered are aged 25-34, with 29% aged 35-44. 18% are aged 45-54, 8% aged 55-64, with 2% aged 18-24. 

 

Breakdown by Age

64% identify as straight/heterosexual, with 4% identifying as bi-sexual, 5% Gay Man, 2% as Queer and 2% as Gay Woman/Lesbian.

Breakdown by Sexual Orientation

 

 

3% of the 2024 Voting Academy consider themselves disabled and 10% identify as neurodiverse.

 

Breakdown by Disability

 

Breakdown by Neurodiversity

BRIT Awards Categories

The BRITs are committed to equity and inclusion, and we strive to see representation and diversity reflected across the voting categories. The BRITs seek to continually evolve to reflect our dynamic music scene, and underpinning this approach is an annual review of the voting and nominations mechanics and eligibility criteria.

The full list of categories for the BRIT Awards 2024 with Mastercard are:

  • Artist of the Year
  • Group of the Year
  • BRITs Rising Star
  • Best New Artist
  • Song of the Year with Mastercard
  • Mastercard Album of the Year
  • International Artist of the Year
  • International Song of the Year
  • International Group of the Year
  • Alternative/Rock Act
  • Pop Act
  • R&B Act
  • Dance Act
  • Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act
  • Producer of the Year
  • Songwriter of the Year

 

What's new for BRIT Awards 2024?

R&B genre award introduced

For 2024, R&B will be one of five genre awards, along with Alternative/Rock, Dance, Pop and Hip Hop/Grime/Rap, ensuring visibility for UK R&B artists at The BRIT Awards, with the five genre awards collectively showcasing the tremendous versatility, creativity and diverse musical styles of British music. Eligibility for the R&B Award will cover a 24-month period as opposed to the usual 12 months to ensure that artists that released music in those two years qualify and are eligible.

 

Artist of the Year & International Artist of the Year

The BRITs will increase the number of nominees for both Artist of the Year and International Artist of the Year from five, to ten.  This change, aimed at improving representation and inclusion, along with the introduction of the new R&B award, follows extensive consultation within the BRITs organisation, relevant industry and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) groups, including the BPI’s own Equity & Justice Advisory Group (EJAG), and was a key part of The BRITs’ annual review of all show elements, following the 2023 ceremony. 

 

How does Voting Work? Who decides the Winners?

The 1,200 strong members of the Voting Academy are invited each year to determine the nominees and winners for the majority of the categories, including:

  • Artist of the Year
  • Group of the Year
  • Best New Artist
  • Song of the Year with Mastercard
  • Mastercard Album of the Year
  • International Artist of the Year
  • International Group of the Year
  • International Song of the Year

 

For the five genre categories, the Voting Academy selects the top five nominees for each category. The winner is determined via a public vote, the details of which will be announced in the new year.

Genre Categories:

  • Alternative/Rock Act
  • Dance Act
  • Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act
  • Pop Act
  • R&B Act

 

The following categories are exceptions and are not voted for by the Voting Academy:

Producer of the Year

Honorary award as decided by a separate expert panel.

Songwriter of the Year

Honorary award as decided by a separate expert panel.

BRITs Rising Star

Invited panel of music editors and critics from the national press, online music editors, heads of music at major radio and music TV stations plus songwriters, producers and live bookers.

Voting typically takes place at the towards the end of the calendar year, ahead of the Nominations announcement and main Show.


Category Eligibility

Eligibility for the categories (apart from BRITs Rising Star and the 5 genre awards) is achieved either by an artist album achieving a Top 40 place in the Official Albums Chart during the 12 month eligibility period (Friday 9th December 2022 – Friday 8th December 2023), or 2 x Top 20 singles in the Official Singles Chart.

To be eligible for one of the genre awards, an artist must have released a Top 40 Album or Single in the same eligibility period within a 12 month period, with the R&B award eligibility achieved over a 24 month period.

For each awards category (apart from Rising Star, Producer of the Year and Songwriter of the Year), Voting Academy members select from a longlist of eligible entries. They will be able to select up to 10 entries in the Artist of the Year categories (UK and International) and Song of the Year (UK and International), and up to 5 in all other categories.

The shortlist and winner of BRITs Rising Star is determined by an invited panel of music editors and critics from the national press, online music editors, heads of music at major radio and music TV stations plus songwriters, producers and live bookers - those working with new rising talent on a regular basis. Voting opened early in November, and is closes at 5pm on Friday 24th November 2023.


Nationality Criteria

Artists will need meet one of three criteria to be eligible for the British Award categories:

1. They were born in the UK.

2. They are a UK passport holder (this includes those that hold more than one passport).

3. They have been permanently resident in the UK for more than five years.

To be eligible for British Group and other British Award categories, 50% of artist’s individual signed members must qualify as British in accordance with the above.

The International Award categories encompass all artists who do not qualify as British.

You can find out more about changes made for BRIT Awards 2024 here.