Honorary Judges
(Conflict of Interest Policy: Most of our judges are past participants of Global Music Awards competitions. They are professional musicians who regularly create new works. Honorary Judges consult with the GMA team and advise on our end of year lists. When they submit new works to Global Music Awards, the individual is not included in any judging decision regarding their entry.)
What Do We Look For?
After your submission is received, your entry goes through a multi-layered judging process including listener impact, technical quality, uniqueness and styling. Like most music competitions all first-level judging is conducted by Global Music’s in-house professionals. Entries judged to be potential Gold winners may be sent to outside judges for additional review. The last step in the judging process is to review all entries recommended for Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals once again in order to maintain consistency and high standards across all judging categories.
What do we look for as we decide which artists receive honors during the Global Music Awards judging process?
First, what we don't consider. We don't consider size of fan base, popularity or level of record sales. The market does not inform our musical choices. Global Music Awards is a merit based competition. We judge and curate based on creativity and quality of musical craft.
We look for emotional communication, the ability to transcend, to make the listener experience something that is new and compelling. We want to be surprised and moved by what we hear. We want to be convinced that those we honor can really move an audience. The musical joy of artists we select must be infectious. We want the artist to remind us why we care about music so much in the first place. Our judging process honors both polished artists and those in which we sense future potential.
Judging is subjective by nature because the listening experience is unique to each set of ears. We listen very carefully to the music in every entry but artists must understand that different ears might result in different outcomes during the judging process. We want to do no harm, whether granted Global Music Award honors or not, so we try to make the experience positive for all who participate in the competition.
The submission rules are simple:
1. Submissions may be of any genre, any length.
2. Songs in other than English must include a copy of the written lyrics.
3. Entry fee for the first judging category is $60 US. Each additional judging categories is an additional $30.
4. Written comments describing your entry and publicity materials are invited and helpful for the judging process.
5. Entries will not be returned.