Fourteen categories are judged by the Voting Academy consisting of over 1300 representatives from every sector of the music industry.
Twelve categories are judged by specialist Voting Schools which consist of between 40 and 100 specialists from that genre or sector of music.
Two awards are sales awards and are judged by independent audit.
The Hall of Fame and Lifetime Achievement Awards are awarded at the discretion of the ARIA Board.

Voting for the ARIA Awards is conducted on a secure website between Wednesday, 15 August and Friday, 24 August inclusive. The voting website is designed and managed by Gruden Pty Ltd, and all votes are audited and accredited by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

ARIA members who submit recordings for consideration by the voting academy are required to supply audio, video and cover art in digital formats. This material is available on the judging website for review by the judges when casting their votes.

The winners in each award category are determined by a points system. Judges are required to select their top three choices in each category. Their first choice is awarded five points, their second choice three points, and their third choice one point. The winner is the entry with the most total points.

Voting commences when judges are emailed unique passwords to access the website. Judges are not required to complete their voting in the one session - they may review a few awards at a time and come back to complete their voting on another day. As the voting period draws to a close, judges who have yet to submit their votes are sent reminder emails and asked to confirm their votes before the deadline.

Once voting closes at 5pm on Friday 24 August, the judging website is blocked. At that time ARIA's official auditors, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, move in to tabulate and authenticate the votes over the weekend. The results are kept confidential until the final five nominees are announced at the Nominations Event on Wednesday, September 19.

As well as complying with the general eligibility criteria, recordings must also meet the requirements specific to each award category. 

In addition to meeting the requirements of each individual award category, recordings and artists must accord with the general eligibility criteria.

Who are the ARIA Awards judges and how does one join the panel? Learn about the judges and how they are selected.

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