Grammy Categories Restructured For 2012

Fewer trophies will be handed out at next year’s Grammy Awards, just one of several changes announced today (4/5) by The Recording Academy. Going forward there will be 78 Grammy award categories, down from 109 at the 2011 ceremony.
Country Field Changes—As in the other Mainstream Fields (Pop, Rock, R&B, Rap, Country), the male and female performance category has been consolidated, and collaborations now go to the duo/group category. Country Instrumental was eliminated both due to the exceedingly low number of entries and the move of Bluegrass Album to the American Roots field (which bars bluegrass tracks from being entered here).

American Roots Music Field—The traditional and contemporary blues categories and the traditional and contemporary folk categories each were consolidated into one per genre. Regional Roots Music is a new category including Regional Mexican Music, Hawaiian, Cajun/Zydeco, Native American, and Polka music.
Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Field—Four fields have been renamed, including the Gospel Field to Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music. As to category restructuring within this field, it was determined that album and songwriting categories are of highest importance; Gospel and CCM each now have one category for each. For The Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance category, it was determined that this was an area in which the two branches of the field could participate together.
No changes have been made to the all-genre General Field which includes Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist.
Entry Changes—A minimum of 40 distinct artist entries will be required in each Category (up from 25). If a Category receives between 25 – 39 entries, only three recordings would receive nominations that year. Should there be fewer than 25 entries in a Category, that Category would immediately go on hiatus for the current year — no award given — and entries would be screened into the next most logical Category. If a Category receives fewer than 25 entries for three consecutive years, the Category would be discontinued, and submissions would be entered in the next most appropriate Category.
Voting Rule Change—Previously, voting members were allowed to vote in up to nine genre Fields plus the General Field on the first ballot and eight genre Fields plus the General Field on the second ballot, including every category within each chosen Field. Now, on each ballot, voters may vote in up to 20 Categories in the genre Fields plus the four Categories of the General Field — which includes Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist.
For more information, including FAQ, Helpline, Explanation for Category Restructuring and Category Mapper visit Grammy.org.