The Categories

There are 23 categories representing the different music genres with the inclusion of a Music Video Category as well.

Number of Judges

There are 3 judges per category which in total is 63 separate judges per yearly NCEIA Dolphin Music Awards.

The Judges

The judges are representative of the music industry across our region, nationally and in some cases internationally.

The Entries

The entries in most categories are uploaded electronically. In all cases aside from the Music Video, The Production category and the Album entries the judges are blind in that the only information that they can see on their page is the song title and an entry number.

The Scoring

The scores are tallied from the judges results and in most cases three finalists are drawn from the results or unless a category has many more entrants than the rest then sometimes there are additional finalists for that category.

The Finalists

The finalists are contacted and are asked to either attend the awards night or nominate someone who can come instead if they can't attend in person.

The NCEIA Dolphin Music Awards night process

On the night of the awards snippets of each of the finalists songs are played when the finalists for a category are announced.

The master of ceremonies is handed the confidential winners envelope. The envelope containing the winners name is opened and read out.

The winners music is played as the winner is invited to come to the stage and receive their award and prize

NCEIA Dolphin Music Awards night exposure

The NCEIA Dolphin Music Awards night is live streamed to radio as well as filmed and live streamed worldwide on the web. There are music professionals from all levels attending the awards night which is followed by newspaper exposure.