British Country Music Awards Nomination Process and Guidelines

Working closely with our friends, industry partners and the country music community in the UK, we are here to heighten the awareness of country music and support its on-going growth by recognizing excellence in the genre.

Who can nominate?

You must be a Member: if you are not yet a member, please join us now!
Each member can send up to three nominations per award category.
Artist members are allowed to nominate themselves if they so wish.
You can nominate the same artist for different awards.
You can nominate artists who are not themselves members of the British CMA.
Any genre definition will always be a grey area, with moving goalposts: if you think an artist, album or song is country, then just go ahead and nominate them.
Once you have submitted your nominations, you will not be able to change them.
Once the nomination period has ended no further nominations will be accepted.
All the nominations will be collated and presented to the British CMA board, who will draw up a shortlist for each award.
The shortlist will go forward to the voting process for members to vote.
The Voting is controlled and adjudicated by an independent body and the results are released on awards night.

Nominations are accepted for 14 awards:

UK Horizon Award
UK Duo of the Year
UK Album of the Year
UK Musician of the Year
UK Video of the Year
UK Female Vocalist
UK Male Vocalist
UK Group of the Year
UK Entertainer of the Year
UK Song of the Year
Best Original UK Festival
International Touring Act
International Song of the Year
International Album of the Year

BCMA board vote on 4 awards:

Special Achievement Award
International Services Award
UK Services Award
Roll of Honour Inductees

Award eligibility period

The eligibility period for each award is 1^st July 2018 to June 30^th 2019.

Nomination period

Nominations will open on 20 July 2019 and close on 10 Aug 2019. (3 weeks)

Voting period

Voting will open on 20^th Aug 2019 and close on 17^th Sept 2019. (4 weeks)

Join the BCMA

Only members of the British CMA in good standing can take part in the nomination and voting process for our annual awards, join us today!

Nomination Criteria

UK Album of the Year

For country albums released by UK artists within the eligibility period*** (5 tracks or more will constitute an Album).

In the United Kingdom, any record with more than four distinct tracks or with a playing time of more than 25 minutes is classified as an album for sales-chart purposes.

UK Song of the Year

For country songs released by UK artists (either separately or on an album or EP) within the eligibility period.

UK Entertainer of the Year

For UK artists who have had an exemplary year based on overall recognition and activity whether through album, song, radio airplay, publicity, touring, or other criteria within the eligibility period.

UK Musician of the Year

For UK country musicians who have had an exemplary year based on overall recognition and activity whether through performing on an album or song, touring, or other criteria within the eligibility period.

UK Horizon Award

For UK emerging/new artists who have had an exemplary year based on overall recognition and activity whether through album, song, radio airplay, publicity, touring, or other criteria within the eligibility period (cannot be nominated twice for this award). Artist will not have previously won an award in any category other than writer or video*

UK Duo of the Year

For a UK act made up of 2 members who have had an exemplary year based on overall recognition and activity whether through album, song, radio airplay, publicity, touring, or other criteria within the eligibility period.

UK Video of the Year

For country videos released by UK artists within the eligibility period.

UK Male Vocalist

For a UK male artist(s) who have had an exemplary year based on overall singing performance whether through album, song, radio airplay, publicity, touring, or other criteria within the eligibility period.

UK Group of the Year

For a UK act made up of 3 (or more) members who have had an exemplary year based on overall recognition and activity whether through album, song, radio airplay, publicity, touring, or other criteria within the eligibility period.

UK Female Vocalist

For a UK female artist(s) who have had an exemplary year based on overall singing performance whether through album, song, radio airplay, publicity, touring, or other criteria within the eligibility period.

Best Original UK Festival

For UK festivals that predominantly showcase and promote original UK country artists.

International Album of the Year

For country albums released in the UK by international artists within the eligibility period.

International Song of the Year

For country songs released in the UK by international artists (either separately or on an album or EP) within the eligibility period – award given primarily to the artist with writers also acknowledged.

International Touring Act of the Year

For international artists who have had an exemplary year based on overall recognition for their performances and touring activity in the UK within the eligibility period.

UK artists are individuals, duos or groups whose members hold a British or ILR passport and were a UK tax resident during the eligibility period. Any group that includes non-UK members would normally be considered International. However, those with at least 50%** UK members may appeal to the British CMA board to be classed as a UK Artist.

International artists are all artists not fulfilling the criteria for UK artists.

* For clarity: this means an artist that has not previously been nominated for a British CMA and is considered to be an emerging UK country music artist

** For clarity: this means that a duo with one UK member and one international member would need to apply to the British CMA board if they wished to be considered as a UK artist; a trio with two UK members and one international member can appeal to the board to be classed as a UK Artist; a trio with two international members and only one UK member will automatically be classed as International and cannot appeal for UK Artist status. The board’s decision on any appeal is final. Note that this does not apply in the case of Song of the Year: the Song awards are for honouring exemplary song writing – any UK songwriter who is a credited cowriter on an eligible song can be nominated no matter how many other songwriters (UK or International) are also credited on the same song.

**For clarity: this means that in order to be eligible for nomination, an artist or group must have had at least one release available for sale as a physical CD, download or on an official streaming platform in the last 12 months. This includes nominations for Best Male Solo, Best Female Solo and Best Group.