Eligibility

The Awards are open to original recordings produced, recorded and mixed primarily within the state of New Mexico between January 1st and December 31st, 2023. This means that all productions, amateur or professional, must have been primarily recorded, mixed and produced at a home or professional studio within the state of New Mexico.


The NMMA must be able to verify the recording location via physical address of the recording and/or production studio. Contact information for the recording/production studio, home or commercial, must be provided on the entry form. Without a studio physical address on the form, the entry will be disqualified.


Recording, production and/or copyright dates or release dates will be used to determine the eligibility of each entry. Entrants must be able to prove copyright ownership of original material artwork and recordings entered.


Recordings or materials submitted to the NMMA in previous years are not eligible. Re-recording of previous year’s entries may not be entered into any category.


Entry Process

Our entry process is a digital process. Entrants will be required to fill out an e-form online and upload audio or video submissions to our secure cloud account. Each entry must be correctly identified and labeled with the title of the work and entrant’s name.

We do not provide downloadable pdf or docx forms or accept mail in entries. Mailing product and forms adds to the expense of the entry process for the entrant because of postage costs. Transferring audio from CD’s is time consuming and CD’s do not always contain the title and artist information needed for the judging process.

In the event that an entrant cannot for any reason, utilize the digital form, a digital PDF will be e-mailed to the entrant who will fill out the form and digitally return it to the NMMA.

Audio files will be accepted in any standard audio format including .wav, mp3, aiff, FLAC, WMA, PCM and ALAC. CD’s, cassettes, pen drives and vinyl will not be accepted for judging.

Video entries may be submitted in any standard format recognized PC format such .mp4, .mov, .wmv, AVI or AVCHD. Flash videos, pen drives and DVDs will not be accepted.

Checks, cash and money orders will not be accepted as payment for entry fees. Payments will only be accepted online via credit card through our secure merchant services account.

Entries for full length categories require both audio and artwork files for judging. Links to download and entire full length album are also acceptable as long as they are provided at no cost. Full-length entries must be commercially available at the time of entry. Commercially available is defined as packaged for retail sales including a UPC code and available for sale to the general public either through retail outlets or available online as a digital download.

Definitions

Contact is the name of the person responsible for the entry. Should questions or problems with the entry arise, there needs to be a single point of contact for the entry so that any issues may be resolved quickly.

Entrant is defined as the person submitting the entries. Entry forms without contact information for the entrant will be disqualified.

Title is the name of the song or full length project entered.

Producer is the person or persons responsible for the production or overall look and sound of the project. This may be the artist or an independent producer.

Single length entry is one song entered into a particular category. Need not be commercially available. One song may be entered into multiple categories, but an entry fee must accompany entry into each category. Example: John Smith’s song “All My Travels” may be entered into multiple single length categories like Country, Best Song and Americana and may be combined on the same form, but an entry fee must accompany each category entered.

Full length entry is any entry that contains multiple songs as an entry into a full length category like Best of the Year or Best Country Album This entry is judged as a whole project against other full length projects in the same category. Must be commercially available either through a retail outlet or online. One album may be entered into multiple categories, but an entry fee must accompany entry into each category. Example: John Smith Collection entered into a full length category like Best of the Year and Best Rock Album and may be combined on the same form, but an entry fee must accompany each category entered.

Category is the genre, performance or production you are entering your song or project into. You may see a complete list of categories here.

Writer(s) are the composers of the music entered.

Recording Engineers are the recording engineers involved in recording the project.

Mastering Engineers are the company or engineers mastering the project for release.

Technical Assistance may include assistant recording engineers, or programming, location assistance, video production and editing or any other technical assistance necessary to complete the project.

Studio information (Name, physical address, phone and e-mail) This information is necessary to verify that the project was recorded and produced in New Mexico.

Certification An electronic signature is required as proof of acceptance and understanding NMMA rules and proof of ownership of the music or video. This certification is used in the event of any ownership dispute.

Fees

The entry fee includes applicable New Mexico state sale tax. One entry fee per entry is required. Any digital or video entered in multiple categories requires an entry fee for each category entered. Entry fees may be paid online through our secure merchant services account. Checks, cash and money orders will not be accepted as payment for entry fees. Payments will only be accepted online via credit card through our secure merchant services account. Entry fees are not refundable.

Deadlines

E-form entries must be received by midnight, February 8th, 2024. Payment for e-form entries will be processed through our secure PayPal account.

Authorization

Entrant gives the NMMA permission to use their music, likeness, artwork, video and website for the sole purpose of promoting the New Mexico Music Awards program. Your music will never be sold or marketed to a third party.

Awards will be presented at a banquet in May of 2024 (Time, location and date TBD). You need not be present to win. Entry into the Awards program does not guarantee entry into the banquet. Banquet attendance requires purchase of a separate ticket. Seating is limited. One (1) trophy per category will be presented. Additional trophies will be available for purchase for thirty (30) days after the awards banquet. Only NMMA winning participants are eligible to purchase duplicate trophies.

The New Mexico Music Awards is not responsible for delays or cancellation of the event due to the continuing pandemic, acts of God or failure of other contractors related to our event.