
A Grammy Award (originally called Gramophone Award) recognizes outstanding achievement in the music industry. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959. The 55th Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Highlights of the 55th Grammy Awards:
Fun Fact:
The gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. The trophies with the recipient's name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements, so "stunt" trophies are reused each year for the broadcast.
The Nomination Process
Gem Words
Spectacular: Beautiful in a dramatic and eye-catching way.
Gilded: Covered thinly with gold leaf or gold paint.
NARAS: The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS.
Nominees: A person who is proposed or formally entered as a candidate for an office or as the recipient of a grant or award.
Tabulation: Information set out in tabular form.
Written by Ekta Kapur
Highlights of the 55th Grammy Awards:
- Gotye and Kimbra won the Record of the Year for "Somebody That I Used to Know", to become the second Australian and first New Zealand group to win the award.
- Mumford & Sons won the Album of the Year for Babel, and
- Fun won the Song of the Year for "We Are Young" as well as the Best New Artist.
- Kelly Clarkson won the Best Pop Vocal Album for Stronger, and became the first ever artist to win the award twice.
- Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys won the most number of awards during the ceremony.
Fun Fact:
The gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. The trophies with the recipient's name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements, so "stunt" trophies are reused each year for the broadcast.
The Nomination Process
- Record companies and individuals may submit recordings to be nominated.
- Nominations are made online and a physical copy of the work is sent to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
- Once a work is entered, reviewing sessions are held, by more than 150 experts from the recording industry, to determine whether the work is eligible and entered in the correct category for official nomination.
- The resulting list is circulated to all NARAS members, each of whom may vote to nominate in the general field (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist) and in no more than nine out of 30 other fields on their ballots.
- The five recordings that earn the most votes in each category become the nominees. There may be more than five nominees if there is a tie in the nomination process.
- After nominees have been determined, final voting ballots are sent to Recording Academy members, who may then vote in the general fields and in no more than eight of the 30 fields.
- NARAS members are encouraged, but not required, to vote only in their fields of expertise.
- Ballots are tabulated secretly by the major independent accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
- Following the tabulation of votes the winners are announced at the Grammy Awards.
Gem Words
Spectacular: Beautiful in a dramatic and eye-catching way.
Gilded: Covered thinly with gold leaf or gold paint.
NARAS: The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS.
Nominees: A person who is proposed or formally entered as a candidate for an office or as the recipient of a grant or award.
Tabulation: Information set out in tabular form.
Written by Ekta Kapur