Nomination and Voting Process

First, it is important to remember that ONLY members
of the Academy of Texas Music, Inc. are eligible for
the Texas Music awards.

Nominations begin January 1st and run until midnight
of the first Friday following the 15th of January.
(Nominations cannot end on January 15th.)
Voting begins on the first Monday in February and runs
for 19 days, ending on the third Friday after the first Monday.


Nominations

Nominations are made through the Texas Music Awards website.
        www.TexasMusicAwards.org

Nominations may be submitted by anyone with Internet access.
Multiple methods are used to prevent abuse.  IP capturing, cookie blocking, etc. are used.
Duplicates are discarded and abusers are blocked from the system.

The nominations are tabulated and the process continues:
- those receiving nominations are ranked by number of nominations received
- each potential nominee is checked for eligibility beginning with the top recipient
- each potential nominee is matched to the criteria for each specific award
- nominees who more closely match award criteria may receive additional consideration
- nominations received are treated as suggestions and the number of nominations received is not the final factor
- when five nominees matching the criteria are deemed eligible, the nominations are set
- if less than five nominees are deemed eligible, the Nominating Committee will fill the remaining nominations
- if, by way of nominations and criteria, more than five nominees are eligible and suitable, the Nominating Committee will   
  narrow the field to five nominees based on which nominees more closely reflect the criteria
- all nominations are the final decision of the Academy Nominating Committee

Voting

Voting begins on the first Monday in February and runs for 19 days, ending on
the third Friday following the first Monday.

There are three sections to the voting process.

First, there is a public vote.  Fans can vote for any ONE of the five nominees in each category.  The public vote is tallied and the nominee in each category receiving the most votes will receive five points, giving four points to the next highest vote-getter, and so on.  The public voting results are then converted to Academy votes.  The public votes account for approximately 10% of the total Academy vote.  For 2009, the total results are weighted by TEN and added to the Academy Board Vote.

Second, the voting members of the Academy can vote for any ONE of the five nominees in each category.  The voting member vote is tallied and the nominee in each category receiving the most votes will receive five points, giving four points to the next highest vote-getter, and so on.  The voting member voting results are then converted to Academy votes.  The voting member votes account for approximately 20% of the total Academy vote.  For 2009, the total results are weighted by TWENTY and added to the Academy Board Vote.

Third, the Academy Voting Board votes using the AP Writer's Poll style of systematically sorting each nominee with a grading from one to five.  Five points are given to the Board member's first choice, four points are given to the second choice, and so on.  The Academy Voting Board results account for approximately 70% of the total Academy vote.  For 2009, the Academy Voting Board has 70 members.

Results are held secret until the Awards Show.