BET Awards

The BET Awards were established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television Network to celebrate African Americans and other minorities in music, acting, sports, and other fields of entertainment over the past year.

The awards are presented annually, and are broadcast live on BET.

The annual presentation ceremony features performances by artists, and some of the awards of more popular interest are presented in a televised ceremony.

Trophy
The BET Award Trophy was inspired by three words - aspire, ascend, achieve

Venue
The inaugural ceremony in 2001 was held at the Paris Resort on the Las Vegas Strip
 From 2002 to 2005, the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood  hosted the ceremonies
 From 2006 to 2012, the awards have been held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles
 The Awards will move to the Nokia Theatre at L A Live(an entertainment complex in downtown Los Angeles,California) in 2013

Nomination
There is a voting academy made up of about 500 people from the music industry, media, and bloggers. BET sends out ballots electronically and voters nominate in all the different categories who they think should be award nominees

Award Categories

• Hip Hop
• Gospel
• R&B
• Group
• New Artist
• Collaboration
• Music Video
• Viewer's Choice
• Centric Award
• Acting
• Movie
• Sports
• BET Lifetime Achievement Award and
• BET Humanitarian Award