GRAMMY Submissions Are Open!

Scott

McDowell

July 7, 2026

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FAI 2024

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Submission Form

Applications to submit recordings for the 69th Annual GRAMMY Awards are now open. If you are a Recording Academy member, you can submit eligible recordings during the Online Entry Period, open July 7, 2026, through August 21, 2026.

The creation of separate Best Traditional Folk Album and Best Contemporary Folk Album categories represents an exciting opportunity to better recognize the breadth and diversity of today's folk music. By submitting eligible recordings, you help ensure that the full spectrum of our community's artistry is represented within the Recording Academy's American Roots Field.

Are You an FAI Member? We Can Submit for You!

If you are not a Recording Academy member, you can still have your eligible album submitted in the folk categories. In addition to asking a Recording Academy member, label, or agency to submit on your behalf, Folk Alliance International is happy to submit eligible recordings for our members.

Please complete the GRAMMY Submission Form and submit payment so FAI can process your entry before the Recording Academy deadline.

FAI Submission Pricing

Traditional Folk Album Submissions

**Early Bird (July 7 – July 20): FREE
Standard (July 21 – August 10): $35
Final Deadline (August 11 – August 18): $85

Contemporary Folk Album Submissions

Early Bird (July 7 – July 20): $25
Standard (July 21 – August 10): $75
Final Deadline (August 11 – August 18): $125

We encourage artists to submit as early as possible to take advantage of lower pricing and avoid the final deadline rush.

Eligibility

Eligibility Period: August 31, 2025 – August 28, 2026

For the 69th Annual GRAMMY Awards, recordings must be released between August 31, 2025, and August 28, 2026.

To be eligible, recordings must be for sale commercially via general distribution or made available as a digital recording, either for sale or via a recognized streaming service.

You do not need to be an American artist to submit or be nominated for a GRAMMY. Your recording simply needs to meet the eligibility requirements above and be commercially released for general distribution in the United States during the eligibility period.

Category Definitions

BEST TRADITIONAL FOLK ALBUM

FOR ALBUMS - VOCAL OR INSTRUMENTAL

This Category recognizes excellence in albums of traditional folk recordings. Traditional folk includes folk recordings with folk song structures, harmonic structures, and rhythms, including traditional folk instruments such as piano, harmonica, traditional woodwind, strings, and percussion from around the world. It also includes song types such as old time, a capella, work songs, shanty, protest, call and response, ballad, and other traditional folk song structures created in and/or passed through community-rooted tradition distinct from Regional Roots.

BEST CONTEMPORARY FOLK ALBUM

FOR ALBUMS - VOCAL OR INSTRUMENTAL

This Category recognizes excellence in contemporary folk recordings. It includes folk recordings that vary from traditional folk song and harmonic structures and may employ non-traditional folk song structures including composition and narrative expression. It can be community-rooted, and it may use production and arrangements of song types such as indie folk, ethno-folk, protest, and folk rock, distinct from the pop approach. It may include traditional folk instruments and non-traditional folk instruments, as well as contemporary production techniques.

GRAMMY Album Rules

An album is a collection of audio recordings issued for sale, download or streaming as a unit. To qualify as an album, a release must contain at least five tracks (different songs, not different mixes) and have a total playing time of at least 15 minutes OR it may have any number of tracks if the total playing time is at least 30 minutes. Updated, revised or expanded versions of previously submitted albums are not eligible.

Albums must contain greater than 66% playing time of newly recorded (within five years of release date), previously unreleased recordings. To be eligible in a specific Genre Category, an album must contain greater than 50% playing time of the genre specified by the category. A recording may not be in more than one specialized genre category. However, an album may be in one genre category while one or more tracks from the album may be in a different genre category.

Singles released during the current eligibility period will not count against the "new recordings" threshold (for the purpose of defining an album) as long as the singles were not released on an album in any previous eligibility period.

Singles released during the previous eligibility period will not count against the "new recordings" threshold (for the purpose of defining an album) as long as the singles were not entered in a previous awards cycle and were not released on an album in any previous eligibility period.

If an album is released one year and an associated music film is commercially released in a different year, both are eligible in their respective years, even if the music film was nominated or won a Grammy Award.

For additional questions about the Recording Academy submission process, please visit the GRAMMY Awards FAQ. We wish all submitting artists the very best of luck!

Submission Form