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Magdalena Kanecka discusses the BRIT Awards’ recent failed attempt at inclusion

AFTER claiming to make their awards genderneutral in 2021 — therefore, to balance out the genders of their nominees to create an even ground for those identifying as male, female, along with other gender identities — the BRIT Awards has come under fire for having only men included in their Artist of the Year award nominations. With Harry Styles eventually claiming the statuette in the category. This

Niamh has consequently brought to attention many questions regarding the levels of inclusivity within award shows; how little is too little in terms of genderneutrality, and how much is too much? More importantly — is there such a thing as too much inclusivity?

TO all students, this twoweek lapse in strikes has been welcome.

As a third year, losing valuable contact time in my final year has been a huge source of stress, and made me question where my £9,250 is going. But it is not the absent staff I am angry about — speaking to several of my lecturers has confirmed one thing; that they are simply employees being mistreated by an organisation much larger than themselves. In his most recent email, the Deputy ViceChancellor says, “We are grateful to all parties for their commitment to the ongoing discussions, and we are pleased that the strike action planned for the next two weeks has been paused to allow talks to continue”. This sounds good, with continuous discussion and progress being made. But why should this commitment be to ongoing discussions? Why should the University not have ongoing commitment to its staff and students?

Back in 2021 when the BRITs first claimed to introduce more gender-neutrality within their nominations, they successfully followed through with their claim for the first year, with both

Sam Smith, a non-binary artist, and Will Young, who openly campaigns for gender inclusivity within award shows, receiving nominations. This brings the question — did the BRITs simply preach gender-neutrality to appear more inclusive, with no real long-term regard for all genders of their nominees, and further leaving women behind in 2023?

They successfully followed through with their claim for the first year

Whereas on one hand, one may argue that any attempts to increase the gender inclusivity of award shows are admittedly a good thing — because not having it risks creating just another male-dominated field of entertainment. Arguably, award shows have increasingly gotten better at this over the years, for example, the non-binary artist

Sam Smith’s recent Grammy win (Pop Duo/ Group Performance) for their song ‘Unholy’ with Kim Petras, suggesting some partial progress with regards to gender inclusivity.

To summarise: if the Grammys can do it, why can’t the BRITs, as well as other award shows?

On the other hand, others might suggest that award shows should instead be an opportunity to celebrate the greatest successes of entertainment such as music or acting, and that the gender of nominees as well as voting committees should not play a part in this simply because that’s all it is — an award show, a celebration, and ultimately a statuette — nothing else.

An opportunity to celebrate the greatest successes of entertainment

Yet still, it is important to note that award shows, like most areas of our lives and the media