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May 08, 2025

About the Blues Music Awards
The Blues Music Awards brings together Blues performers, industry representatives, and fans from all over the world to celebrate the best in Blues recordings and performances from the previous year.
The BMAs are generally recognized as the highest honor given to blues musicians and are awarded by vote of Blues Foundation members. To become a Blues Foundation voting member, join here.
Thank you to our 2025 BMA Sponsors
The Blues Music Awards Process
The 46th Blues Music Awards submission process opened on July 8, 2024 Here. Submissions are now closed.
Eligibility Period for The Blues Music Awards
The submission process is closed. Deadline for submitting recording is October 21th, 2024.
Any blues recording released between November 1, 2023 and October 31, 2024 is eligible for 2025 Blues Music Award consideration.
The Submission Process for The Blues Music Awards
The Blues Foundation opens the formal submission process after July 4th of each year. Your complete album or minimum 6-song EP music must be uploaded as a WAV file with album artwork uploaded as either JPEG or PDF files.
Artists may submit a single for Song of the Year consideration that has been professionally released to the public between November 1, 2023 – October 31, 2024, and is not part of a larger EP or full album release.
Submission fees and deadlines (based on dates):
August 1, 2024 – August 31, 2024
$155 per album or EP submission / $55 per song submission
September 1, 2024 – September 30, 2024
$180 per album or EP submission / $80 per song submission
October 1, 2024 – October 20, 2024
$225 per album or EP submission / $125 per song submission
The submission process will close on October 20, 2024.
You must upload your music and artwork and complete payment for your submission transaction no later than OCTOBER 20TH to be considered for a Blues Music Award nomination. All music must be uploaded as a WAV file with album artwork uploaded as a JPEG or PDF file. If you need assistance with uploading your music, contact Joe Whitmer at joe@blues.org will be available to help you and walk you through the process. The submission process officially closes on October 20, 2024, at 8:00am CST. You must upload your music and artwork and complete payment for your submission transaction no later than OCTOBER 20 to be considered for a Blues Music Award.
Nominating for the Blues Music Awards
The Blues Foundation enlists a group of approximately 100 blues nominators who work extensively in all areas of the blues industry. This includes individuals with blues expertise as producers, engineers, radio DJs, journalists, academics, club owners, promoters and others with a deep knowledge of blues music. The identity of the nominators is not made public in order to protect them from outside influences. Nominators must recuse themselves from any categories in which they have a conflict of interest.
The nominators work through two rounds in order to come up with between four and six final nominees in each category. During the first round, each nominator distributes 6 total points to their top choices within each category, with no more than 2 total points given to any single entry. The top entries in each category move into Round 2. The Blues Foundation does not publicize which recordings and/or artists move to Round 2. The nominators then repeat the point distribution for each category in a second round ballot and those artists and recordings receiving the most total points in each category become the final Nominees for Blues Music Awards.
Final nominees will be announced in early January 2025.
Final Voting for The Blues Music Awards
All Blues Foundation members in good standing, whose dues are current, may access one online ballot via the Membership portal at blues.org. Membership Login credentials and password required to gain access to the ballot. Any member who renews his or her membership or joins as a new member during the voting period will also receive a ballot.
Blues Music Awards Results Information
Results of members’ voting are not known until the Blues Music Awards presentation ceremony when names of the winners are revealed to the public.
Winners will be announced during the 46th Blues Music Awards in Memphis, TN.
Nominees and winners of the Blues Music Awards must be in keeping with The Blues Foundation’s values as a welcoming and inclusive organization, as reflected in our Statement Against Racism.
The 2024 BMAs Recap
The Renasant Convention Center was packed with blues musicians, fans, and music-world luminaries on May 9th, anxious to see who would be the winners at the 45th Annual Blues Music Awards. Besides awarding honors in 25 categories, the BMAs, as is its tradition, featured performances from many nominees, with the gala ending in a jubilant all-star jam.