Unity Awards 2005 Main Page

Balloting Schedule and Deadlines

Policies & Procedures Manual
For the Annual Unity Awards

Entry, Nominating And Balloting
6th Annual Unity Awards

The mission of the United Catholic Music and Video Association (UCMVA) is to support, encourage, and promote the development of all forms of Catholic Music and Video.

I.                     Purpose - The Unity Awards help the UCMVA accomplish its mission by giving public recognition by the members of the UCMVA to those persons who have demonstrated excellence or significant accomplishments in the field of Catholic Evangelization through music, video and media.

II.                   Voting Eligibility - All persons who are members in good standing of the UCMVA in any eligible membership category, or who have submitted a complete membership application accompanied by the prescribed membership fee, by July 25^th of any year shall be entitled to vote in the Unity Awards selection process with respect to the awards to be presented during that calendar year. Members in all Professional, Platinum, Benefactor, and Patron categories shall be entitled to enter and vote in all Unity Awards categories.

III.                 Award Eligibility -

A.      The eligibility period for all award categories shall be 12 months beginning on the 1^st day of April, and ending on the 31^st day of the March prior to the presentation of the awards. Product must have General Distribution in the United States. General Distribution is defined as mail order and/or retail sales for a recorded music/video product that is marketed nationally. The UCMVA reserves the right to request invoices of shipment from the manufacturer to substantiate the release date eligibility.

B.      The UCMVA has authorized the following lyric criteria for all song and video entries in the Unity Awards: "For the purpose of Unity Award eligibility, the lyrics of all entries in the Album and Song categories will be based upon Tradition, Magisterium, and Scripture."

C.      The UCMVA has authorized the following artist criteria for the Unity Awards: "For the purpose of Unity Award eligibility, all artists nominated must be actively evangelizing within the Catholic Church."

IV       Balloting Process - The balloting process for the Unity Awards shall consist of three phases, namely, Nominations, Preliminary Ballot and Final Ballot. A nomination packet as well as the ballots shall be mailed to all eligible members of the UCMVA from a list provided by President of the Association. Members shall mail the completed nominations forms and ballots to an independent accounting firm approved by the UCMVA. All such ballots may only be returned to the address designated; faxes shall not be accepted. The descriptions for each phase are as follows:

Phase 1: Nominations - The nomination packet and forms shall contain appropriate instructions and provisions for submitting entries in specific Unity Award categories. The United Catholic Music and Video Association reserves the right 1: To disallow nomination forms that have insufficient information to verify the entry eligibility and forms for which no contact is readily available. 2: To place any entry into the category it deems appropriate and to rule on the eligibility of any product. 3: To withdraw any category in any year if the Association determines there is an insufficient number of eligible entries in that category (less than 3) and, at the Association's discretion, to place those entries in another category.

Phase 2: Preliminary Ballot - This ballot shall list, in alphabetical order, all eligible nominees receiving three or more nominations or one nomination from a Record, Video, or Publishing Company with the exception of Song of the Year, which requires five member nominations in the nominations phase.

Phase 3: Final Ballot - This ballot shall list in alphabetical order, the four nominees in each category that received the most votes in that category on the first ballot, with exception of the following:
1. Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year shall list ten nominees
2. Male Vocalist of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year, Group of the Year, Artist of the Year and New Artist of the Year, which shall list five.

 V.                  Tabulation of Ballots - The independent firm employed by the UCMVA to supervise the Unity Awards balloting procedures shall assure that all nominations and votes comply with the following, in addition to any rules stated on each category form or ballot.

A.      On the entry form, not more than three member entries may be made in any one category. On the Preliminary and Final Ballots not more than one vote shall be cast in any category.

B.      In the event of a tie for placement on the Final Ballot, the number of nominees for that category will be increased in order to include all entries which are tied. (See description in section entitled "Final Ballot" in Part IV above). The Unity Award recipient shall be the nominee that receives the most votes on the Final Ballot. In the event of a tie, there will be multiple award winners. The Finalists in each category shall consist of those nominees receiving the second and third largest number of votes in their respective category (for Song of the Year, there will be four finalists). In the event of a tie, there will be more than two finalists in each category (or more than four for Song of the Year).

C.      Only the names of the final nominees and of the Unity Award recipient(s) in each category shall be made known to the United Catholic Music and Video Association by the independent accounting firm employed to tabulate such ballots. The number of votes received by any particular nominee shall not be disclosed to anyone by said accounting firm unless so directed by resolution adopted by the UCMVA.

VI.                Announcement of Recipients - Prior to the announcement of the recipients(s) at the annual Unity Awards presentation or other such event as may be selected by the United Catholic Music and Video Association, the name of the recipient(s) of the Unity Award in any category will only be disclosed to the President of the UCMVA by the accounting firm tabulating the ballots. Such disclosure will be restricted to persons who, in the President's judgement, require such information in connection with the production and/or broadcast of the Unity Awards presentation.

UCMVA 2005 Balloting Schedule
(Revised)

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