Winners Get The Most Votes
The winners in the LJC Best Of The Year Awards are determined on a purely democratic basis – the artist or album that receives the most votes wins! In all respects, the Best Of The Year Awards are a “People’s Choice” award that calls upon the will of the public to decide the outcome. Once the nominees are announced in early December, anyone from around the globe is welcome to place their vote on the ballot page. Artists are encouraged to recruit fellow musicians, fans, friends, and family to support their music by placing a vote on the ballot page. They need to make their selections carefully though – once they place their vote, our software logs their IP address and locks that IP address from voting in that category again. This is done to keep the Awards fair by preventing any one person from “stuffing the ballot box.” The ballot closes right before the Christmas holiday and the artist or album in each category with the most votes is deemed the winner. As we approach the end of the year, the winners are announced and then placed on a permanent page.

Pros And Cons Of A Popular Vote
There are undoubtedly pros and cons of this process that make the Awards an interesting ride. I’ve discussed the issues around popular choice and some potential future solutions in the post LJC Best Of The Year Awards: Some History And Background – you can read that HERE. Overall, I like to remember that there is a major benefit to the Best Of The Year Awards; for a month, a great deal of attention and excitement falls upon the Latin Jazz world. Artists rally their fans around their music and bring a large amount of attention to their music. This is the fact that keeps me presenting the Awards from year to year and leaves me feeling good about the process.

———-
I’m always open to suggestion about the results, so feel free to contact me with your thoughts. Otherwise, you might want to check out LJC on a regular basis to keep up to date on the great Latin Jazz that we hear throughout the year – Click here to have these posts delivered via email. Or, click here to subscribe to the full text RSS feed and never miss another post!