In the face of criticism over the lack of minority and female nominees in its top categories, the Recording Academy has informed its members that it is taking action. Beginning with next year’s Grammys, major awards such as Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist will expand from five to eight nominees. And, frankly, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the caretakers of the Academy Awards, should pay close attention.
READ MORE: 2018 Grammy Awards Winners and Nominees List
The Grammys have a long and rocky road of trending conservative, progressive and conservative again in rewarding diverse voices. Over the past decade acclaimed artists such as Beyonce, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West and Rihanna have been snubbed from many of the major categories and, when nominated, have gone home empty handed to winners universally regarded as inferior to the rest of the artists in their field. The bigger problem, however, has been the lack of female nominees in these categories which has been head scratching considering how much they dominate the pop and country charts in particular. For instance, this year there were technically only two female nominees in Album, Record and Song categories with Best New Artist being the only field where there were more women recognized than men. And longtime Recording Academy President Neil Portow’s remarks after the telecast that women needed to “step up” only exacerbated the problem.
Now, the Recording Academy has taken and action by expanding those four categories. It may not lead to “better” winners, but it should create more diversity among the nominees. And with the ongoing fight for more equality in film industry it’s something AMPAS should consider for a variety of reasons.
The Academy is now entering its 10th year of an expanded Best Picture category where members can vote for up to 10 nominees. It’s hard to argue this change hasn’t led to more diverse films getting recognized with “Hidden Figures,” “Call Me By Your Name,” “Selma,” “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “The Kids Are All Right,” among others, earning nods and winners such as “Moonlight” and “12 Years a Slave.” Why not put that same criteria for up to eight winners for the Best Director, Foreign Language Film, Writing and Acting categories? You can even use the same numerical voting formula for Best Picture. If each branch votes up to eight nominees, great. If not, it’s a minimum of five.
Granted, there will always be snubs, but this change would mean the membership could truly reward the most worthy performances tend in this context. Do you really think “Mudbound’s” Dee Rees wouldn’t have earned a Best Director nod in January if there were up to eight slots? “Downsizing’s” Hong Chau wouldn’t have cracked the Best Supporting actress field? South Africa’s gay-themed “The Wound” wouldn’t have earned a Foreign Language Film nod? That Jason Mitchell wouldn’t have gotten a Supporting Acting nomination for “Straight Outta Compton” in 2016? Or that “Selma’s” Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo wouldn’t have earned Directing and Acting nods, respectively, in 2015?
And if you’re searching for an example of where this expanded field has worked look no further to the Emmy Awards which wrapped up nomination voting on Monday night. The Television Academy has had a minimum of six nominees (potentially seven) in its main acting categories since 2009. It’s had the same minimums in its writing and directing fields for the past two years and it’s easy to see the critical benefits.
There are arguments to be made that the Grammys, Emmys and Oscars each have their own unique qualifiers. The Emmys have reportedly 487 scripted series for members to ponder in this era of Peak TV and the Academy had a record 341 submission for Best Picture last year. The Grammys had markedly less potential nominees, but that’s also because the overall voting process is a bit of a political mess even with these changes (we honestly don’t have the word count but you can read the fine print here). But, as the Emmys and Best Picture expansion has proved, change can be a good thing while recognizing even more excellent work. Those who insist it will only dilute the value of a nomination or award should look to said Best Picture category (when it works, it works) and what appears to be a record-setting marketing push for this year’s Emmys (those nominations are more valuable and respected than ever) . The Recording Academy has finally realized what it needed to do and it’s time the Motion Picture Academy looked in the mirror and ponder the possibilities as well.
If not, they are simply late to the party.