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^TM.

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.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR 2010 ONLY: 

Every year that the TMAs (Texas Music Awards) have been in existence, nominees have been named and public voting has begun on the first Monday of February.  The nomination suggestion period closed on January 22^nd, as planned (which this year, only left eleven days to assess over 43,000 online nominations and a record number of eligible albums.)  Also, since all final nominees are contacted personally BEFORE the public announcement is made, it became evident that in order to maintain the integrity of the nomination process, the Nominating Committee felt the public announcement of the final nominees had to be rescheduled to February 15^th.  One of the reasons the Texas Music Awards are the most respected system in the industry, is because of the time committed to assessing every song on every eligible album.  This process has never been, nor will it ever be a rushed process.  So it is understandably going to take a little longer than it has in the past…the Nominating Committee is committed to giving your music the respect and consideration it deserves, and therefore this year’s process simply cannot properly be completed in eleven days.  Please know that this will in no way diminish the length of the public voting period, the Academy member voting period, or the Honoree board voting period, as those dates will be adjusted accordingly.  Logistically, the committee does not feel it is possible to give the process the respect it deserves by the 1^st of February.  So, again, February 15^th is the new target date for the public announcement, and the public voting portion of the process will also begin that same day.  Remember, the show is three weeks later than it was last year, so there is no need to panic.  MARK YOUR CALENDAR for MAY 15^th regardless.  We apologize for the need to delay this announcement, but have complete faith that you can appreciate and understand the reason to do so.

Nominations

Nominations are made through the Texas Music Awards^TM 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. 

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.

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. 

Results are held secret until the Awards Show.