The 2016 Grammy Awards Received 21,000 Submissions: Watch How the Ballots Are Decided

Grammy board members explain submissions process for nominees. (Getty)

If you’re in the running for a Grammy, get ready to mark your calendar: Dec. 7 is when this year’s nominations will be officially announced.

After sorting through over 21,000 submissions, the Recording Academy has mailed the first round of ballots to voting members, who will decide this year’s nominees within the next month (ballots are due Nov. 4). The first-round ballot is created by screening committees of more than 200 experts from all parts of the industry, who listen to and categorize the entries across 83 categories and 30 fields.

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In a new video, senior vice president of Awards Bill Freimuth, music supervisor and Chop Shop owner Alexandra Patsavas, and writer/producer Tricky Stewart explain this phase of the process, when the thousands of Grammy submissions are sorted to create the initial ballot.

The 58th Annual Grammy Awards covers music released between Oct. 1, 2014 and Sept. 30, 2015. The awards show will take place Monday, Feb. 15, 2016 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center, and air on CBS starting at 8 p.m. EST.