The first awards were given in 1969 at a ceremony in Makati. After three awards ceremonies were held, the Awit Awards were discontinued in 1972. In 1988, PARI brought back the awards and today, the organization still handles these awards.
The idea for Awit Awards was conceived by Oskar "Oskee" Salazar, the Billboard correspondent for the Philippines at that time, in late 1968.[1] The first awards ceremony was held on March 23, 1969, that took place in Makati. It was organized by the Awit Awards Executive Committee, which composed of representatives from different record companies, with Salazar as their chairman. Winners were voted by a jury composed of 15 people which were selected by the Awit Awards Executive Committee. The jurors were chosen by their jobs in the music industry such as a record retailer, jukebox operator, entertainment/music writer or a radio station program director.[2]
Days before the second awards, they decided to create a formal academy called the Philippine Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (PARAS), replacing the Awit Awards Executive Committee. The academy was headed by Danny Villanueva, the outgoing president of the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS), as the chairman alongside Salazar as the co-chairman. It was composed of 75 members.[3] The second awards was held in July 1970 while the third happened in June 1971.[4] These two ceremonies were administered by the academy. From 1972 until 1987, no Awit Awards ceremonies were held.
In 1988, the Philippine Association of the Record Industry resurrected the Awit Awards. Instead of following the previous numbering pattern, they decided to call the 1988 awards as the 1st Awit Awards. This pattern continued until now.
Nomination process
Any recording company which is a member of the PARI can submit entries for Awit Awards. A non-member recording company can qualify if it has a business arrangement with a PARI member such as licensing, distributing and marketing. The entries that could be submitted are based on the eligibility period when the music was released. The eligibility period is always from January 1 to December 31 of the previous year. Nominations may only be awarded to any person with Filipino heritage, resident or non-resident of the Philippines. Foreigners must show documents certifying their Filipino heritage.[5]
All entries would be then screened by judges. The jury comprises radio personnel, entertainment journalists, television personalities, composers, brand/marketing professionals and musicians. For the technical achievement categories, judges could either be a sound/vocal/musical engineer, television commercial producer, film director or someone from the media. The judges would vote on all entries and the five highest scoring entries would become the nominees for each category.[6] A category could have more than 5 nominees if there's a tie.[5]
Nominees in each category would go through another voting round with the highest scoring finalists would be then declare as the winners in the awards night.[6]
Currently, the ballots are audited by the Isla Lipana & Co., a Philippine member firm of the PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Ceremonies
Presented by the Awit Awards Executive Committee and the Philippine Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
