LONDON — The organizers of the Brit Awards announced Monday they are scrapping separate male and female artist categories in a shakeup designed to make the music prizes more inclusive.
Next year's awards will feature trophies for U.K. and international artist of the year, replacing male and female awards in each category. Organizers said the change will celebrate artists "solely for their music and work, rather than how they choose to identify or as others may see them."
The 2022 ceremony will also include four new awards for different genres, decided by public vote: alternative/rock act; hip hop/grime/rap act; dance act and pop/R'n'B act.
The moves are the latest changes made in response to criticism" that the awards long failed to reflect the diversity of British music. In 2017, the academy of more than 1,000 music industry professionals that chooses Brits winners was expanded in an attempt to make it more gender-balanced and diverse.
The 2022 Brit Awards ceremony will be held Feb. 8 at London's O2 Arena, hosted by comedian Mo Gilligan.
Sustain our coverage of culture, arts and literature.
Canvas supported by
Knight Foundation
Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The NBA has banned Toronto two-way player Jontay Porter after a league probe found he disclosed confidential information to sports…
The new film "Civil War" is stirring debate and provoking conversation about where a divided nation could lead. It topped…
A movie weapons supervisor has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by…
PEN's response to Israel's invasion of Gaza has been widely criticized by writers who believe the organization has failed to…
Faith Ringgold, an award-winning author and artist who broke down barriers for Black female artists and became famous for her…
Entrepreneur and author Derrick Fennell has been a flight attendant for more than 14 years. Many of his passengers know…
The Italian-born designer became renowned in the early 1970s for his animal prints and a sexy Italian style that remained…
More than 4,000 library book bans were attempted in public and school libraries in 2023, according to the American Library…
The decorated football star who was acquitted of charges he killed his former wife and her friend but wound up…
In the summer of 2022, historic flooding in eastern Kentucky washed away homes and entire communities, claiming more than 40…
Her latest album, the epic "Act ll: Cowboy Carter," hit No. 1 on the Billboard country albums chart, making her…
Narsiso Martinez is an artist whose work celebrates the vital and often invisible labor performed by farmworkers. Martinez's work is…
The conviction stemmed from an altercation last March in which Majors' then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari accused him of attacking her in…
Some people see older buildings as revered artifacts that have stood the test of time, but others see them as…
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' by Mark Twain is one of the cornerstones of American literature. "James," a new novel…