The Georgia Country Awards

The 2025 Georgia Country Awards will be held on Saturday night, Nov 8th at Southern Roots Tavern in McDonough.

The following are the rules of the voting: The voting in the 1st round will start Monday, June 2nd, 2025 at noon. You'll see the ballots below. This is the first round or "nomination round". If there is any act not on the ballot that a fan feels should be, please email your nomination in at info@georgia-country.com. If that act qualifies, they will be added. The period for adding any nomination will last for three weeks, ending on June 23rd. After that date, the ballot is locked, no other acts can be added to the ballot. Voting for the 1st round will end at noon on Wednesday, July 16th. There are THREE rounds in the voting. The nomination round is narrowed down to the top 12 in each category for the Semi-Finals, then that is narrowed down to the top 6 finalist for the Finals.

Qualifications for artist for the awards: Every act must either be based IN Georgia. They must show this on their music page. They CAN be living in Nashville, but still has to be performing at least 50% of their shows IN Georgia. They MUST call themselves a COUNTRY act first. They can say they play rock, etc., but country music must be their main music they perform. For VENUES: Every venue HAS to book country music acts at least 50% of the time. Definition of Band of the Year and Traditional Artist of the Year is that band of the year nominees are any BAND that has a band name. This can not be for The Bobby Smith Band as the singer Bobby Smith would be under the Male category. And a band that is called Bobby Smith and the Dixie Catus Band, still Bobby Smith would get the nomination, not the band. Traditional Artist of the Year is any act, male, female or band that plays mostly traditional or classic country will qualify. Also, The GCA does not have a teen ballot. We've not had one in 10+ years. But will announce the teen artists of the year finalist in October. NEW in 2024, is Best Original Song. Any song nomination has to follow these rules: 1. Must be written by a Georgia resident. 2. Must be a country song. 3. Songs can not be older than three years. 4. You must show proof that you wrote the song as well. 5. Must be of quality recording. You can enter a song by emailing us the MP3 or video with poof to Request @ Georgia-Country.com. A song nominated in 2024, can not be nominated again in 2025.

Fan voting is only 50% of the voting for each nominee. The GCA Panel, consisting of leaders in the music business in Georgia, also apply points to all nominees. These points are the other 50% of fan voting. Each panel member grades each nominee on the following:

Do they have a Facebook Music page and how well is that managed. Do they post or list all their shows. How many shows does the act show from Jan 1st, 2025 to the end of the round of voting. Does the act have a website and how informative is the website, listing of shows, music, videos, info on the act, etc. The panel grades all acts on stage performance. Obvious, the panel cant drive around the state to see live shows, so stage videos are reviewed. Does the nominee have original music and a grade on the song(s). Also, when reviewing the nominee's shows, more points are for if opening for any major act, where shows are (are you playing in the bigger venues or just playing in a local bar).

In the finals, ALL finalist are eligible for "Overall Artist of the Year". Not fan voted on, but the panel awards this to the artist that they have done the most in 2025 to advance their career. (Teen finalist are not eligible).

Voting in the 2024 Georgia country awards will start at noon on Monday, June 3rd. First round ends on Monday, July 15th at noon. Then the SEMI final voting starts on Wed, July 17th at 6pm. Each round last 6 weeks with final round ending in early October. During the final round, there will be a special ballot of the finalist to let the public vote on who they want see perform at the awards show.

NOTE: If at any time a nominee no longer qualifies, they will be pulled from the ballot. I.e. Artist signs a major record deal. Artist moves out of Georgia. Artist changes genre. All nominees are always evaluated.

Voting rules: Only ONE vote per IP Address, per ROUND (NO DAILY VOTING) . If your IPA has been used yet you have not placed a vote, you can email in your vote to Vote@Georgia-Country.com

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The Georgia Country Awards

The 2025 Georgia Country Awards will be held on Saturday night, Nov 8th at Southern Roots Tavern in McDonough.