编注：本月，倍受关注的格莱美音乐奖举行第44届颁奖典礼，我们本期“非常知识——Q&A”的主题就是：走近格莱美。一起来看看格莱美的方方面面——

　　Q: What is the GRAMMY Awards?

　　A: The GRAMMY Awards is the recording industry's most prestigious award. The GRAMMY Awards is the only peer-presented award to honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales (唱片销量) or chart position (排行榜排名). A GRAMMY is awarded by the Recording Academy's (唱片工业协会) voting membership to honor excellence in the recording arts and sciences.

　　Q: How did the GRAMMY Awards start?

　　A: In 1957, a visionarysgroupsof music professionals and label executives (唱片公司经理) in Los Angeles recognized the need to create an organization that would represent the creative people in the recording arts and sciences. They wanted to recognize and celebrate the artistic achievement of not only talented musicians and singers but also important, behind-the-scenes contributors such as producers and engineers. Conceived as a way to create a real recording industry community and address some of these concerns, the Recording Academy was born and the GRAMMY Awards process began.

　　Q: What is the process of the GRAMMY Awards?

　　A: This simplified description illustrates the various stages of the GRAMMY Awards process. The process begins with members and record companies submitting entries, which are then screened for eligibility and category placement. The Academy's voting members, all involved in the creative and technical processes of recording, then participate in (1) the nominating process that determines the five finalists in each category; and (2) the final voting process which determines the GRAMMY winners. As a whole, the GRAMMY process can be divided into the following stages: (1) entering; (2) screening; (3) nominating; (4) voting; (5) winning.

　　Q: Who votes for the GRAMMY Awards?

　　A: Recording Academy's voting members vote for the GRAMMY Awards only. Record companies do not vote.

　　Q: Who qualifies as a voting member?

　　A: Recording Academy voting members are professionals with creative or technical credits on six commercially released tracks (or their equivalent). These may include vocalists (歌手), conductors, songwriters, composers, engineers, producers, instrumentalists, arrangers, art directors, album notes writers, narrators and music video artists, and technicians.

　　Q: How many awards categories are there in the

　　GRAMMY Awards?

　　A: The GRAMMY Awards has 28 fields (Pop, Gospel (福音音乐，美国黑人的一种宗教音乐), Classical etc.) and 101 categories within those fields.

　　Q: How are categories changed or added?

　　A: Proposals for changes to the categories are reviewed each year by the Academy's Awards & Nominations Committee, with final approval by the Academy's Trustees (董事会). Proposals may be submitted by any member.

　　Q: What is the difference between Record of the Year and Song of the Year?

　　A: The Record of the Year category honors the artist and the producer(s), recording engineer(s) (录音师) and /or mixer(s) (混音合成人员) if other than the artist. This category is for a commercially released single, or track from a current year's album. The Song of the Year category recognizes a songwriter for a single or track that was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the eligibility year.

　　Q: How many audiences does the GRAMMY Awards

　　have?

　　A: The GRAMMY Awards is telecast annually to an international audience of over 2 billion in 180 countries.(狄加)