Last edited December 19th, 2024
Introduction
FemMetal – Goddesses of Metal is an online music magazine and journal dedicated to women performing in the Rock and Metal scenes. We also target feminist and human rights issues through our variety of articles and events. You can learn more about our message and goals here.
The goal of the awards presented by the ‘FemMetal – Goddesses of Metal’ website is to honor the achievements of Rock and Metal musicians. A significant portion of the awards is dedicated to recognizing emerging Rock and Metal musicians.
The event debuted in 2018 and has continued to run annually ever since.
The Categories of FemMetal Awards
The event has had many changes in categories so we would keep improving the chances for more musicians to be under the spotlight. The categories for the 2024 version of the event are:
- Best Metal Act
- Best Rock & Alternative Act
- Best Album
- Best Release Artwork
- Best Music Video
- Best Instrument Player
- Best Vocals
- Best Brutal Vocals
- Best Breakthrough Act
- Best Release by a Breakthrough Act
- Best Rock / Metal Influencer
- Write-In Musician or Act
- Write-In Breakthrough Act
- Woman of the Year
Details:
- Best Metal Act: This category honors Metal bands that released a studio album, live album, EP, or a substantial number of singles in the past year. Voters are encouraged to select the band that impressed them the most with their overall performance—whether through live shows, releases, or other achievements—and that they believe has the strongest legacy or potential. While a release from the same year is required to qualify, this category evaluates the band’s broader impact, as the release itself is recognized in a separate category. It encompasses Metal bands across subgenres such as Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Symphonic Metal, Death Metal, and similar styles.
- Best Rock & Alternative Act: This category honors Metal and Rock bands that released a studio album, live album, EP, or a substantial number of singles in the past year. Voters are encouraged to select the band that impressed them the most with their overall performance—whether through live shows, releases, or other achievements—and that they believe has the strongest legacy or potential. While a release from the same year is required to qualify, this category evaluates the band’s broader impact, as the release itself is recognized in a separate category. It encompasses Metal bands across subgenres such as Alternative Metal, Nu Metal, Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Pop Rock, and similar styles.
- Best Album: This category recognizes the top Metal and Rock releases of the past year. Voters are encouraged to select the album that impressed them the most with its quality and overall impact.
- Best Release Artwork: This category celebrates the most outstanding artwork featured on a Metal or Rock release from the past year. Voters are encouraged to choose the design that captivated them with its creativity, detail, and visual impact.
- Best Music Video: This category honors the most impressive Metal or Rock music video released in the past year. Voters are encouraged to select the video that stood out with its artistic direction, storytelling, and overall execution.
- Best Instrument Player: This category recognizes exceptional skill and artistry from instrumentalists in the Metal and Rock genres. Voters are encouraged to choose the musician whose performance left the strongest impression on them.
- Best Vocals: This category celebrates the finest clean vocal performances in Metal and Rock from the past year. Voters are encouraged to select the vocalist who delivered the most powerful, emotive, and technically outstanding performances.
- Best Brutal Vocals: This category honors the most impactful brutal vocal performances in Metal from the past year. Voters are encouraged to choose the vocalist whose growls, screams, and intensity impressed them the most.
- Best Breakthrough Act: This category highlights emerging Metal and Rock bands or artists who have made a significant impact over the past year. Voters are encouraged to select the act they feel has shown the most promise and talent. Like the other categories celebrating acts, it is independent from the quality of the release itself.
- Best Release by a Breakthrough Act: This category recognizes the best release—whether an album or EP—by an emerging Metal or Rock artist from the past year. Voters are encouraged to choose the release that impressed them the most with its quality and creativity.
- Best Rock/Metal Influencer: This category celebrates individuals who have significantly influenced the Metal and Rock communities through their content, engagement, and contributions. Voters are encouraged to choose the influencer who has made the biggest impact.
- Write-In Musician or Act: This category allows voters to recognize a musician or act that may not have been officially nominated. Voters can write in their choice to highlight a deserving artist they believe should be celebrated.
- Write-In Breakthrough Act: This category allows voters to recognize an emerging musician or act that may not have been officially nominated. Voters can write in their choice to highlight a deserving artist they believe should be celebrated.
- Woman of the Year: Celebrates the most influential women in the past year in categories outside music (politics, science, economy…etc)
How are the nominees chosen?
We invite our contacts and friends in the Metal and Rock music community to draft names of eligible acts and musicians for each category. We believe that the nomination is the most critical stage of the event. Moreover, we do not consider mass public voting a proper way to pick the nominees, as it can be greatly affected by the popularity of the artists. The professional music-related surroundings would pick names to run for the final public vote, diminishing the effect of popularity on the procedures of the event at this level.
Therefore, the “community members” invited are experts in the Rock and Metal scenes, such as promoters, journalists, influencers, label executives, former and active musicians, and artists. Later, the FemMetal Awards Committee is formed from a subgroup of the invited personnel to vote for the final nominees who will be picked from the list of drafted names. The number of nominees for each award would vary depending on the number of drafted musicians.
Voting Process
In the early years of the award, the polls were live and each category had a separate poll and sometimes even a different directory on which to vote. This often resulted in some cases of “fierce” competition between two or more musicians.
In order to make the voting process more professional and less competitive, we have decided, starting in 2021, to replace the polling policy with a more “data collection”-oriented method rather than a “poll race” method. The public voting lasts for a week. Votes are restricted by email addresses (1 vote per email address). The voting page is protected by invisible reCaptcha to avoid bots and scripts. The polling takes the form of a survey, in which the voter can, but is not forced to vote for all categories, to help avoid misleading curves. To prevent harmful competition, we do not show live results of the polls and will only announce the winners and voting outcomes after the competition.
To ensure the transparency of the voting and counting process, any nominee or member of the drafting community can request a copy of the results.
Theme
Every year, a woman-empowerment theme is picked for the event and the aliases and the name of the Hall of Fame are decided through that theme.
Promotion
Promoting this event to our followers, readers, and the general public is our responsibility. Nominees are not required to do anything about it. We will inform our readers and advertise the event to make the polling sample as wide as possible.
Awards
- All nominees in all categories are added to the All-Time Hall of Fame.
- All nominees in all categories will be present on the annual thematical Hall of Fame page.
- A number of the nominees will receive an advertisement spot on the sidebar and footer (only footer on mobile devices) of the website. Below is an explanation of how we determine these winners.
- All winners will receive a digital certificate.
- All members of the Committee will receive a participation certificate and a mention in the credits of the Hall of Fame page.
How are the Ad Space Winners determined?
The number of winners differs every year. In 2024, the number was 25.
The table below specifies the awards tiers and limits. This table will be used in the steps below. We have given breakthrough categories an advantage since new bands and musicians would benefit from the ad space more.
| Category | Limit | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Best Breakthrough Act | ∞ | 1 |
| Best Metal Act | ∞ | 2 |
| Best Rock / Alternative Act | ∞ | 2 |
| Best Vocals | ∞ | 3 |
| Best Brutal Vocals | ∞ | 3 |
| Best Instrument Player | ∞ | 3 |
| Best Release by a Breakthrough Act | ∞ | 4 |
| Best Album | ∞ | 5 |
| Best Music Video | ∞ | 6 |
| Best Release Artwork | ∞ | 6 |
| Best Metal / Rock Influencer | 1 | 7 |
| Best Breakthrough Write-In Act | 1 | 8 |
| Best Write-In Act | 1 | 8 |
| Woman of the Year | 0 | N/A |
Procedure
For demonstration purposes denote by X the number of winners to be selected.
To determine the winners, we follow the steps below:
- List all first-place acts in the order of their category’s weight using the number of votes received as a tie-breaker.
- Remove duplicates
- Repeat the same process for following rankings, respecting the limits for each category until we have X different acts on our list or more
- The top X acts are the winners
Advertisement Content Conditions
The content of the advertisements placed must satisfy the following conditions:
- The advertisement may not contain a message of support for a politician or political party.
- The advertisement may not be clickbait (displaying misleading text with a URL destination that leads to a page the user would not expect)
- The advertisement may not display a message that might be considered misogynistic, racist, or homophobic, or associated with a personality or an organization that has displayed or supported misogynistic, racist, or homophobic behaviour.
For any further questions about the FemMetal Awards, please write to awards@femmetal.rocks.
