What are the differences between the Grammys and Latin Grammys?

Every year, the Recording Academy honours music’s outstanding performers at its Grammy Awards gala. According to the organisation’s official website, its mission is to “recognize excellence in the recording arts and sciences”.

The latest batch of Grammy Awards, considered the highest honour in the music industry, are to be presented in a ceremony at Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, in February 2024. The contenders for the 66th annual Grammys were announced earlier this month, with singer SZA securing an unmatched nine nominations.

Before the Grammys are handed out, however, the Spanish city of Seville this week plays host to the 24th annual Latin Grammy Awards.

What are the differences between the Grammys and Latin Grammys?

They’re awarded by different organisations

Whereas the Grammy Awards are presented by the Recording Academy, the Latin Grammys are organised by the Latin Recording Academy, which describes itself as an “international nonprofit dedicated to nurturing, celebrating, honoring, and elevating Latin music and its creators”.

The eligibility rules are different

While the Grammy Awards celebrate a wide range of musical genres, the Latin Grammys - as their name suggests - only recognise Latin music and its subgenres.

They focus on artists who create music in Spanish and Portuguese. For a recording to be eligible for a Latin Grammy, at least 51% of its content must be in Spanish or Portuguese. Other Ibero-American languages and dialects will also be considered by the Latin Recording Academy.

The Latin Grammys recognise music released in Latin America, Spain, Portugal or the United States. This is a key difference between the awards and the Grammys: to be eligible for the latter, music has to have been placed on sale across the US; this is not the case in the Latin Grammys.

There are fewer categories in the Latin Grammys

As the Latin Grammys focus on Latin music, they have fewer categories.

The Grammy Awards have a total of 94, spread across one general field and 11 genre-specific fields. Meanwhile, although the Latin Grammys actually have more fields - one general, 19 genre-specific - they only have 56 awards categories.

The voting processes are similar, but not identical

While the Grammys and the Latin Grammys are both peer voted, with members of the Recording Academy and Latin Recording Academy choosing their respective awards’ prize winners, the nominee selection processes are not completely the same.

In 2021, the Recording Academy got rid of its Grammy ‘nominations review committees’ in many categories. Where, previously, a group of 15 to 30 experts had the final say on who the nominees for every award were, the shortlists for most Grammys are now chosen exclusively by voting Recording Academy members.

“The voters - 13,000 - vote [on the nominations],” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr says. “The top five-eight-10 vote-getters, depending on the category, are considered the nominees. That shortlist goes back to the same voters. They vote and the top vote-getter wins.”

The Latin Recording Academy, however, remains more reliant on review committees during the nominations process.

Latin Grammy Awards: when, where, how to watch?

The 2023 Latin Grammy Awards are to be held at the FIBES Conference and Exhibition Centre in Seville, Spain, on Thursday 16 November 2023. Viewers in the US will be able to watch the ceremony on Univision, UniMás and Galavisión from 8pm ET/5pm PT.