BRIT Awards Ditch Gendered Categories To Be “Inclusive” Of All Artists

The BRIT Awards is to remove male and female categories to make the music event as “inclusive and relevant as possible”.

From 2022, there will be awards for Artist of the Year and International Artist of the Year, instead of Best Male and Best Female Solo Artist and Best International Male and Female Solo Artist. Dua Lipa and J Hus will be the last winners of the gendered awards.

In a statement announcing the change, the BRITs said the move was because they wanted to celebrate “artists solely for their music and work, rather than how they choose to identify or as others may see them.”

Musicians such as Sam Smith and Will Young have previously called for the change, saying that it excludes non-binary musicians.

According to Yahoo! News, Smith, who is non-binary, did not submit their most recent album for last year’s Brits – Love Goes – due to it not fitting into any of the gender-based categories.

At 2021’s ceremony, they said: “I look forward to a time where awards shows can be reflective of the society we live in. Let’s celebrate everybody, regardless of gender, race, age, ability, sexuality, and class.”

The awards have been given along gender lines since the inception of the BRITs in 1977. The organizers of the awards promised a review into the prizes in 2019 but are only changing the process now.

The BRITs is also reintroducing genre-based prizes for the first time since 2006. Covering alternative/rock, pop/R&B, dance, and hip-hop/rap/grime, the awards will be voted for by fans, rather than the traditional way based on votes from music industry insiders.

The 42nd BRIT Awards will take place on 8 February 2022 in London and be hosted by comedian Mo Gilligan.

Read related myGwork articles here:

Berlin Film Festival To Adopt Gender Neutral Performance Awards

British Airways To Retire “Ladies And Gentleman” For Gender-Neutral Greeting

French Dictionary Includes Gender-Neutral Pronoun, Sparking Linguistic Debate

Keep up to date with the latest myGnews

LGBTQ+ professionals, LGBTQ+ Graduates, LGBTQ+ professional network, LGBTQ+ professional events, LGBTQ+ networking events, LGBTQ+ Recruitment, LGBTQ+ Friendly organizations, LGBTQ+ Friendly companies, LGBTQ+ jobs