BET Awards
Current: BET Awards 2023
A BET Award from 2018
Awarded forOutstanding achievements in the entertainment industry
CountryUnited States
Presented byBET
First awardedJune 19, 2001; 22 years ago (2001-06-19)
Websitehttp://www.bet.com/shows/bet-awards.html Edit this on Wikidata

The BET Awards are an American award show that was established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate black entertainers and other minorities in music, film, sports and philanthropy. The awards, which are presented annually, are broadcast live on BET. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by artists; some of the awards of more popular interest are presented in a televised ceremony.

Trophy

The Award Trophy, inspired by three words - aspire, ascend, achieve, was designed by artist/sculptor Carlos "Mare139" Rodriguez.[1] Outkast won the first award trophy during the first ceremony in 2001. In 2007, Society Awards, the New York firm who manufactures the award, enhanced the quality of the trophy design using plated steel and black crystal.

List of ceremonies

The inaugural ceremony in 2001 was held at the Paris Las Vegas resort on the Las Vegas Strip. From 2002 to 2005, the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood hosted the awards. From 2006 to 2012, the ceremonies were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The ceremony was moved to the Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live in 2013.

Most recent BET Awards winners
← 2022 June 25, 2023 2024 →
 
Award Album of the Year Video of the Year
Winner Beyoncé
Renaissance
and
SZA
SOS
(tied) 		SZA
"Kill Bill"
 
Award Best New Artist Best Collaboration
Winner Coco Jones Future featuring Drake & Tems
"Wait for U"
# Date Venue Host city Host
1st June 19, 2001 Paris Las Vegas Las Vegas Steve Harvey and Cedric the Entertainer
2nd June 29, 2002 Kodak Theatre Los Angeles
3rd June 24, 2003 Mo'Nique
4th June 29, 2004
5th June 28, 2005 Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
6th June 27, 2006 Shrine Auditorium Damon Wayans
7th June 26, 2007 Mo'Nique
8th June 24, 2008 D. L. Hughley
9th June 28, 2009 Jamie Foxx
10th June 27, 2010 Queen Latifah
11th June 26, 2011 Kevin Hart
12th July 1, 2012 Samuel L. Jackson
13th June 30, 2013 Nokia Theatre/Microsoft Theater Chris Tucker
14th June 29, 2014 Chris Rock
15th June 28, 2015 Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross
16th June 26, 2016
17th June 25, 2017 Leslie Jones
18th June 24, 2018 Jamie Foxx
19th June 23, 2019 Regina Hall
20th June 28, 2020 Virtual show Amanda Seales
21st June 27, 2021 Microsoft Theater Los Angeles Taraji P. Henson
22nd June 26, 2022
23rd June 25, 2023 —

Ratings

Year Day Date BET Cumulative Ref.
Household rating 18–49 rating Viewers
(in millions) 		18–49 rating Viewers
(in millions)
2001 Tuesday June 19 4.3 Un­known 5.20 No simulcast [2]
2002 June 25 4.0 Un­known 4.40 [2]
2003 June 24 4.3 Un­known 5.50 [2]
2004 June 29 3.4 Un­known 5.60 [3][4]
2005 June 28 3.7 Un­known 6.58 [5]
2006 June 27 4.9 Un­known 6.60 [6]
2007 June 26 3.4 Un­known 6.39 [7]
2008 June 24 3.2 Un­known 5.85 [8]
2009 Sunday June 28 Un­known Un­known 10.65 [9]
2010 June 27 Un­known Un­known 7.40 [10]
2011 June 26 Un­known 3.3 7.71 [11]
2012 July 1 Un­known 3.2 7.42 [12]
2013 June 30 Un­known 3.4 7.77 [13]
2014 June 29 Un­known 3.1 7.50 Un­known 7.90 [14][15]
2015 June 28 Un­known 2.6 6.27 Un­known 6.50 [16][15]
2016 June 26 Un­known 1.9 4.50 4.3 7.20 [17][18]
2017 June 25 Un­known 1.5 3.83 3.5 5.80 [19][20]
2018 June 24 Un­known 1.2 2.87 1.8 4.30 [4][21]
2019 June 23 1.4 1.0 2.43 1.5 3.79 [22][23]
2020 June 28 Un­known Un­known 1.6 1.0 3.7 [24]
2021 June 27 Un­known Un­known 1.7 Un­known 2.4 [25]

Nomination process

The nomination process is handled by a voting academy made up of about 500 people from the music industry, involving the media, and bloggers. BET sends out ballots electronically and voters nominate deserving works and artists in all categories who they think should be nominated. Nominations and voting ballots are collated by Yangaroo, Inc., a leading digital distribution firm that works on many other televised award ceremonies, including those of BET's sister networks under parent company Paramount Global. The top nominees are determined in each category, and the winners are selected via the academy members' voting process.[26][27][28]

Award categories

Current awards

Defunct awards

Special awards

The BET Lifetime Achievement, Humanitarian and Ultimate Icon Award recipients, along with the nominees for other categories are announced in a press conference. At the awards ceremony a mini-documentary is shown covering the honorees' life. The awards are given out separately. The Ultimate Icon Award was created in 2015 and presented in the ceremony.

Lifetime Achievement

The BET Lifetime Achievement Award is given a veteran artist or group who has made notable contributions to the music industry. The honoree is paid tribute to by current popular singers who perform the honoree's most recognized songs. The honoree will usually perform themselves after being paid tribute.

Humanitarian

In 2002, at the second annual BET Awards, the category for the BET Award Humanitarian Award was created. The Humanitarian Award is given to a celebrity philanthropist who donates their time and money to a charitable cause.

Ultimate Icon

In 2015 and 2018, at the fifteenth and eighteenth annual BET Awards, the category of the Ultimate Icon Award was created. It is given to a veteran artist whose career is deemed iconic by fans and critics alike for their notable contributions in the music, dance and music video fields.

Most nominated and winning artists

Below are the current rankings for the most wins and most nominated artist (male & female):

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2021)

Most wins (as of 2021)[30]

Rank 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Artist Beyoncé Chris Brown Drake Nicki Minaj & Serena Williams Lil Wayne
Total wins 35 (with Destiny's Child and The Carters) 19 15 12 11

Most nominations (as of 2017) This is a list of multiple nominated performers, athletes & actors with 5 or more career nominations. Beyoncé is currently the most nominated performer with 81 nominations, solo and with Destiny's Child.[citation needed]

81 nominations

56 nominations

51 nominations

35 nominations

33 nominations


31 nominations

23 nominations

21 nominations

19 nominations

18 nominations

17 nominations

16 nominations

15 nominations

14 nominations

13 nominations

12 nominations

11 nominations

10 nominations

9 nominations

8 nominations

7 nominations

6 nominations

5 nominations

See also

References

  1. ^ "Carlos Mare aka Mare139 Prints and Original Art | 1xRUN". 1xRUN. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  2. ^ a b c "2003 BET Awards Rocket to Biggest BET Telecast Ever". BET. June 26, 2003. Archived from the original on June 27, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  3. ^ "Top 15 Cable Programs - Total Households: Week of 06/28/04 - 07/04/04". Zap2it. Archived from the original on July 15, 2004. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Pucci, Douglas (June 26, 2018). "Sunday Final Ratings: BET Awards Has its Least-Watched Edition in 16 Years". Programming Insider. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  5. ^ Fitzgerald, Toni (July 7, 2005). "Dance fever: ABC owns this summer". Media Life. Archived from the original on November 2, 2005. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  6. ^ "'06 BET AWARDS Stakes Claim as Cable's Top Awards Show by Again Flexing Impressive Muscle With Viewers". BET. June 30, 2006. Archived from the original on June 27, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  7. ^ "Cable Series by Total Households week of 06/25/07-07/01/07". Zap2it. Archived from the original on July 4, 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  8. ^ Seidman, Robert (July 1, 2008). "Nielsen Ratings Weekly Cable TV Top 20: WWE RAW Back on Top". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  9. ^ "Jackson Tribute BET Awards Edges Jon & Kate Plus 8 To Lead Cable Shows". TV by the Numbers. June 30, 2009. Archived from the original on September 6, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  10. ^ "The 'BET AWARDS '10 Remains The #1 Cable Awards Show, Drawing 7.4 Million Total Viewers". BET. June 28, 2010. Archived from the original on June 28, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  11. ^ Seidman, Robert (June 28, 2019). "Sunday Cable Ratings: More 'True Blood' & 'Falling Skies,' + 'Kardashians,' 'Law & Order: CI,' 'The Glades' and Much More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on July 1, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  12. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (July 3, 2012). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'BET Awards' + 'True Blood', European Football, 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians', 'Real Housewives of NJ' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on July 6, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  13. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (July 2, 2013). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'BET Awards' Wins Night + 'True Blood', 'Dexter', 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians', 'Falling Skies' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on July 5, 2013. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  14. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (July 1, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'BET Awards' Leads Night + World Cup Soccer, 'True Blood', 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians', 'The Last Ship' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on July 7, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  15. ^ a b Stanhope, Kate (June 29, 2015). "TV Ratings: BET Awards Dip to 6.5 Million Viewers". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  16. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (June 30, 2015). "Sunday Cable Ratings: BET Awards Tops Night + 'True Detective', 'Ballers', 'Naked and Afraid' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on July 3, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  17. ^ Porter, Rick (June 28, 2016). "Sunday cable ratings: 'Game of Thrones' scores series high with Season 6 finale". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on June 29, 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  18. ^ Patten, Dominic (June 27, 2016). "BET Awards Viewership Rises Over 2015 With Simulcast On 12 Viacom Nets". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  19. ^ Porter, Rick (June 27, 2017). "Sunday cable ratings: BET Awards fall, 'Power' and 'Preacher' have solid premieres". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on June 30, 2017. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  20. ^ Patten, Dominic (June 27, 2017). "BET Awards Ratings Fall From 2016, Both On Channel & Across Viacom Networks". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  21. ^ Petski, Denise (June 25, 2018). "BET Awards Draws 4.3 Million Viewers". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  22. ^ Pucci, Douglas (June 26, 2019). "Sunday Final Ratings: BET Tops All Key Prime Time Demos with BET Awards; Gold Cup Propels Univision Over All English-Language Broadcast Networks in Adults 18-49". Programming Insider. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  23. ^ Metcalf, Mitch (June 25, 2019). "UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 6.23.2019". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on June 26, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  24. ^ "TV Ratings: BET Awards Get a Boost from CBS". The Hollywood Reporter. June 29, 2020.
  25. ^ "Ratings Release: The "Bet Awards" 2021, Dominates the Award Show Arena as the Best Performing Awards Show This Year". June 29, 2021.
  26. ^ "Awards | YANGAROO". Yangaroo. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  27. ^ "BET SELECTS YANGAROO'S DMDS TO POWER MAJOR AWARDS SHOWS". PR Newswire. 11 May 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  28. ^ "YANGAROO Awards HAS GROWN TO BECOME INDUSTRY LEADER | YANGAROO". Yangaroo. 16 June 2016. Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  29. ^ Moniuszko, Sara M. "BET Awards: Beyonce to receive Humanitarian Award, Lil Wayne to honor Kobe Bryant". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  30. ^ "Watch The Throne: 5 Artists with the Most BET Awards Ever". BET.com. Retrieved 2020-10-25.

External links

BET Awards
Music awards
Categories