What is a Grammy?
A Grammy is the top award in the music industry, presented by the Recording Academy in the United States. The first Grammy Awards were held in 1959.
Grammys honor achievements in recorded music across dozens of categories, from pop and rock to classical, jazz, country and rap. The four biggest are Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist, often called the Big Four.
Thousands of Recording Academy members, all music professionals, vote for the winners. The ceremony is usually held in Los Angeles in late January or early February.
The trophy
The Grammy trophy is a small golden gramophone, and the name Grammy comes from that early record player. Each trophy is made by hand in Ridgway, Colorado.
Artists, producers, engineers and songwriters can all win Grammys, depending on the category. Some categories, such as Song of the Year, reward the people who wrote the music rather than those who performed it. Many awards are handed out before the televised show, during a separate ceremony earlier the same day.
Did You Know?
The Latin Recording Academy holds its own ceremony, the Latin Grammy Awards, for music in Spanish and Portuguese.