The Latin Grammys

                                                    The Latin Grammys

A Latin Grammy Award is an award given to Latin artist by The Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works produced anywhere around the world that were recorded in either Spanish or Portuguese and is awarded in the United States.  Peers within the music industry decide the selections. The first annual Latin Grammys ceremony was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on September 13, 2000. Broadcasted by CBS, This ceremony became the first primarily Spanish language primetime program carried on an English-language television network.

The Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was established by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 1997, and it was founded by Michael Greene, Rudy Pérez and Mauricio Abaroa. The current President & CEO of the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences is Gabriel Abaroa, who is related to Mauricio, one of the founders. The Latin Grammys were introduced with over 39 categories included limited to Spanish and Portuguese-speaking recordings. The concept of the Latin Grammy Awards began in 1989. According to organizers, the Latin Grammy Awards was established due to Latin music being too large to fit on the regular Grammy Awards. The first annual Latin Grammys ceremony was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on September 13, 2000. Broadcasted by CBS, This ceremony became the first primarily Spanish language primetime program carried on an English-language television network.  The following year's show was canceled due to the September 11, 2001 attacks, which was the same day the show was to take place. In 2002, the academy elected its first independent Board of Trustees. In 2005, the broadcast was moved from CBS to Univision where the whole telecast was in Spanish. Voting members live in various regions in the US and outside of the US in regions including Latin America, Spain, and Portugal. To be eligible a recording must have been recorded in Spanish or Portuguese. Products recorded in languages and dialects such as Catalan, Nahuatl, Quechua, Galician, Valencian, Mayan, may be accepted by majority vote of the committees of the Latin Recording Academy. The eligibility period is July 1 to June 30 for a respective awards ceremony. Recordings are first entered and then reviewed to determine the awards they are eligible for. Following that, nominating ballots are mailed to voting members of the academy. The votes are counted and the five recordings in each category with the most votes become the nominees. Final voting ballots are sent out to voting members and the winners are determined. Winners are later announced at the Latin Grammy Awards.

Altogether there are three events: the Life Achievement when renowned artists are honored for lifetime achievement; Person of the Year, when one artist is honored at a gala dinner, and Grammy itself, an award that brings together artists from all over Latin America and Spain and that today is broadcast live to 80 countries, by channel Univision.