Brit Awards: Music awards show gets rid of male and female categories

Dua Lipa will be the last person to win the Best Female Artist category at the Brit Awards

The Brit Awards have announced they are scrapping separate male and female categories.

Starting from next year the awards will be grouped into one single prize for Artist of the Year and International Artist of the Year.

The Brits announced the new awards will celebrate "artists solely for their music and work, rather than how they choose to identify or as others may see them."

Singer Sam Smith, who is non-binary, had called for the change after they missed out on a nomination for this year's awards.

Smith felt they couldn't enter the male and female categories and, in a now deleted Instagram post, said: "I look forward to a time where awards shows can be reflective of the society we live in.

"Let's celebrate everybody, regardless of gender, race, age, ability, sexuality and class."

Three time Brit Award winner Sam Smith called for the awards to change their categories

The Brit Award categories have been separated as male and female since they first started in 1977.

Following Sam Smith's post the Brit organisers said the gendered categories would be reviewed.

What about other award shows?

When the change was first suggested, there were concerns that it could negatively affect female acts - as back in 2020 only one British woman featured across the mixed categories of Best British Group, Best Song and Best New Artist.

But, looking at other award shows that have made similar changes, there has been a more even split between men and women winning prizes.

Little Mix made history in 2021 after becoming the very first female band to win the award for Best British Group.

In 2017 the MTV Video Music Awards changed its Best Male and Female prizes with an overall Best Artist category.

Since then - two men, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber, and three women, Camila Cabello, Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga, have won the award.

The prestigious American Grammy awards also grouped together their prizes for Best Pop Vocal, Country Vocal and R&B Vocal performances in 2012. Since that change, the split between male and female artists winning has been exactly 50/50.

What else is changing?

Arlo Parks performs at the 2021 Brit Awards

This isn't the only change the Brits are making. There will also be four new genre awards added to the list and these will all be decided by the public.

These will include acts from the genres of Alternative/Rock, Hip-Hop/Grime/Rap, Dance and Pop/R&B.

Organisers said: "These awards will showcase the range of music styles that have produced some of the UK's best loved artists, and demonstrate the diverse cultural melting pot that British music is known for."

Tom March, Brit chair, said: "It is important that The BRITs continue to evolve and aim to be as inclusive as possible."

Geoff Taylor, Brit Awards Chief Executive added: "The changes we are making for the 2022 show should mean more new fans, more engagement and a bigger global platform than ever for our amazing artists."

The next Brits Award show will be on 8 February at O2 in London.

Comedian Mo Gilligan will take over hosting duties from Jack Whitehall, with Clara Amfo and Maya Jama presenting the Brits red carpet show.