Awards for world music

Various awards have been presented in recent years to musical artists for their contributions to the genre of world music. This article provides a partial list of these awards and their recipients.

The BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music was an award given to world music artists between 2002 and 2008, sponsored by BBC Radio 3. The award was thought up by fRoots magazine's editor Ian Anderson, inspired by the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Until 2006, the awards panel was chaired by Charlie Gillett and the awards shows co-ordinated by Alex Webb.

Award categories included: Africa, Asia/Pacific, Americas, Europe, Mid East and North Africa, Newcomer, Culture Crossing, Club Global, Album of the Year, and Audience Award. Initial lists of nominees in each category were selected annually by a panel of several thousand industry experts. Shortlisted nominees were voted on by a twelve-member jury, which selected the winners in every category except for the Audience Award category. These jury members were appointed and presided over by the BBC.

The annual awards ceremony was held at various venues including the Ocean in Hackney, Sage in Gateshead, the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, the Brixton Academy and finally at the BBC Proms.

In March 2009, the BBC made a decision to axe the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music.

The Grand Prix du Disque for World Music is one of a number of prizes awarded by L'Académie Charles Cros as part of the yearly Grand Prix du Disque.

In response to the BBC's decision to end its BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music, the British world music magazine Songlines launched the Songlines Music Awards in 2009 "to recognise outstanding talent in world music".

The WOMEX Award was first introduced in 1999 to honour the high points of world music on an international level and to acknowledge musical excellence, social importance, commercial success, political impact and lifetime achievement.

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