The Academy's voting members, participate in two rounds of voting:
NOMINATION PROCESS - the first round of voting determines the finalists in each category. The nominees are anounced
following the second round of voting.
WINNERS PROCESS - the second and final round of voting determines the OMA winners.
SUBMISSION - Registered LARA members enter their albums, singles and music videos released commercially according to the eligibility guidelines.
(Music must be released via the internet on iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon or recognized digital distributers. Physical CDs are also accepted.)
SCREENING - all entries are reveiwed and screened to ensure that entered recordings meet the eligibility guidelines and have been entered into appropriate category such as Dance/Electronica, Pop, R&B, Country, Rock, Inspirational, Jazz, Rap/Hip-Hop etc. This process is created to ensure that each entry meets eligibility, the technical merits of the recording is not judged during this process.
SPECIAL NOMINATION JUDGES PANEL - additionnal nominations are determined by judges compromised of recording and creative industry professionals.
ROUND 1 NOMINATION - LARA conducts voting via a digital voting platform administered by a third party provider. The first round of voting will be announced via email to current year voting members. To ensure the quality of the voting, registered members are given access to the genre fields plus the special recognition award categories. Votes are calculated automatically via the third party voting platform.
ROUND 2 FINAL VOTING - LARA conducts voting via a digital voting platform administered by a thirdparty provider. The second and final round of voting will be announced via email to current year voting members. To ensure the quality of the voting, registered members are given access to the genre fields plus the special recognition award categories. Votes are calculated automatically via the third party voting platform.
VOTING RESULTS
The OMA winners are not known until the OUTMUSIC AWARDS ceremony. The names of the winners are in sealed envelopes. To commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Academy, the OUTMUSIC AWARDS winners will be interviewed LIVE on the new online TV Network OMTVN.com OUT MUSIC TV NETWORK.
For more on the LGBT Academy of Recording Arts (LARA) go to: www.theLARA.org
VOTING PROCESS
