ARIA Awards are presented annually in Australia to recognize excellence and new developments across all styles of Australian music and recording. The awards are presented by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for a variety of categories, including pop, rock, blues and roots, country, dance, urban, children’s music, and comedy. Fine arts awards are presented for best classical, jazz, and world music albums and for best original soundtrack, cast, or show albums. Artisan Awards are presented for cover art, engineering, producing, and music videos. Icon, lifetime achievement, outstanding achievement, and special achievement awards may also be presented periodically.
In addition, performers, composers, and others who have influenced music culture in Australia are inducted (admitted) annually into the ARIA Hall of Fame. ARIA creates charts of the highest-selling singles, albums, and music videos in various styles in Australia and represents record companies in Australia. Winners of ARIA Awards receive solid stainless steel, pyramid-shaped trophies. Inductees into the Hall of Fame are awarded the same trophies with gold plating.
To be eligible for an ARIA Award, recordings must have been released during the one-year period prior to the award ceremony. The awards are presented only to ARIA members. ARIA members can be artists, record companies, CD distributors, or other participants in the music industry. Artists must be either Australian-born or Australian citizens or must meet certain permanent residency requirements. New Zealand artists who have signed a contract with an Australian record label (brand) and who meet certain residency requirements also are eligible. For bands, at least half the members must meet these requirements.
All eligible entries received by ARIA are presented to the voting academy, judging schools, or both for their consideration. The voting academy is made up of representatives from all areas of the music industry. Judging schools include representatives of particular styles of music. A number of awards are also determined by popular vote. The ARIA Board chooses inductees for the Hall of Fame based on nominations.
The first ARIA Awards were presented in 1987. The first ARIA Hall of Fame induction was held in 1988. Since 1992, all winners have been announced on a television special broadcast from Australia.
