It has come to our attention that Scribd.com is now charging a subscription fee to individuals who wish to download free content from their site, but are who not contributing content Scribd.com. The Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts has never charged members or the general public to access these forms or submit entries to the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards. We do not know when Scribd.com changed its policy of charging for free content posted on their system, but this is unacceptable to us.

The nomination guidelines and nomination form for the 2013 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards are now available for free on the HARA website, as we have always intended them to be. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion that this change in Scribd.com’s policies has cause. We will also remove other HARA content from Scribd.com and make it available freely from our own webserver.

As we’re closing in on Mele Mei, the month long celebration of Hawai‘i’s Music, please visit the Mele Mei website for a list of
events as well as to purchase tickets for the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Awards, the Nā Hōkū Festival Workshops and the
36th Annual Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards show.

Here is a complete list of the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards Categories:

General Categories (10)

Album of the Year (Artist and Producerʻs Award):  Best produced album release of the Year

EP (Extended Play) of the Year:   Best release that contains more than 3 but no more than 8 separate tracks, and is of less than 30 minutes in total playing time

Single of the Year:  Best Recorded performance of a song released as a single in either physical (CD) or digital format

Song of the Year:  (Composer’s Award) Best achievement in creating a first–time recorded song including words and music

Instrumental Song of the Year:  (Composerʻs Award) Best achievement in creating a first–time recorded instrumental composition

Female Vocalist of the Year:  Best performance by a female artist

Group of the Year:  Best performance by a vocal duo or group

Male Vocalist of the Year:  Best performance by a male artist

Most Promising Artist of the Year:  Most promising first–recorded effort as a featured artist or group

Favorite Entertainer of the Year:  Selected by the general public

Genre Categories (16)

Alternative Album of the Year:  Best performance in an alternative style

Anthology of the Year:  Best album of previously released material.

Christmas Album of the Year:  Best performance of music with a Christmas theme.

Comedy Album or DVD of the Year:  Best comedy performance on an album or DVD

Compilation Album of the Year:  (Producerʻs Award) Best performance of newly released material by a minimum of three distinct artists.

Contemporary Album of the Year:  Best performance of music in a contemporary style.

Hawaiian Album of the Year:  Best performance of Hawaiian music.

Hip Hop Album of the Year:  Best performance of music in a Hip Hop style

Instrumental Album of the Year:  Best instrumental performance

Island Music Album of the Year:  Best contemporary performance of music of or about Hawai‘i

Jazz Album of the Year:  Best jazz performance

Music Video DVD of the Year:  Best performance of music and video on a DVD

R&B Album of the Year:  Best performance of music in a R&B style

Reggae Album of the Year:  Best reggae performance

Religious Album of the Year:  Best performance of religious material

Rock Album of the Year:  Best rock performance

Slack Key Album of the Year:  Best performance of slack key or vocals with slack key accompaniment

‘Ukulele Album of the Year:  Best ‘ukulele performance

Technical Categories (2)

Liner Notes: Best achievement in album annotation.

Graphics: Best Achievement in album cover design.

Adjudicated Categories (4)

Haku Mele:  (Composerʻs Award) Best first–released song or chant primarily in the Hawaiian Language

Hawaiian Language Performance:  (Artist Award) Best performance in the Hawaiian language

Engineering Award:  Best technical achievement in a sound recording and mix–down.

International Album of the Year:  Best performance by non–US performer(s) on an album or DVD whose tracks are at least 75% in the Hawaiian language or performed in slack key or Island Music styles.


Selection Process

All eligible recordings released between January 1 and December 31 of each year and submitted to the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts are included in the preliminary balloting.

An accounting firm tabulates the votes and the five recordings with the most votes in each category proceed to the final ballot.

For the technical categories (graphics and liner notes) committees are established to select the five finalists on the final ballot.
 The accounting firm tabulates the votes for the final ballot and the winners are announced at our award ceremonies.

A committee of Hawaiian language and music specialists selects the adjudicated categories.

The Favorite Entertainer of the Year Award is selected by public voting conducted via an online voting process.

Nomination Process & Form

The guidelines and nomination form for the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards are now available for download as .pdf files. Please note that all entries must be received at the HARA office no later than the last business day in January following the end of the eligibility year, and they must include all required deposit materials as specified on the nomination form. Entries received after that date or missing required deposit materials will not be accepted.

Please mail to:

Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts
Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards
P.O. Box 821
Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96808

or deliver to:

1110 University Avenue, Suite 409
Honolulu, Hawaii 96826

For more information, call the HARA office at (808) 593-9424