NME Awards 1953: how one of the most traditional music awards in the world was born

The year 1953 marked the beginning of a tradition that would span generations. It was in that year that the British magazine **New Musical Express (NME)** held the first edition of the **NME Poll Winners Concert**, an event that gave rise to the current **NME Awards**, one of the most influential awards in the history of British music. Created a few months after the launch of the magazine, the award emerged with a format quite different from what the public knows today. At the time, the winners were chosen by the publication's readers and the categories reflected the music scene of the 1950s, dominated by large orchestras, jazz and popular singers. Among the main winners of the first edition were **Dickie Valentine**, chosen as best male singer, **Lita Roza**, chosen as best singer, **Ted Heath and His Music**, winner in the best large orchestra category, **Johnny Dankworth Seven**, awarded as best small ensemble, and saxophonist **Ronnie Scott**, recognized as outstanding musician of that year. These artists represented the height of British music before the explosion of rock and roll. The success of the initiative meant that the ceremony began to take place annually. In the following years, the event grew rapidly and began to reflect the major transformations in the music industry. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who and several other historic names began to dominate the awards. Over time, the NME Awards went from recognizing just singers and instrumentalists to including categories focused on albums, songs, bands, live shows, festivals and even landmark moments in pop culture. More than seven decades later, the awards continue to be considered an important portrait of the evolution of British and international music. The event accompanied the birth of rock, the British invasion, punk, Britpop, indie rock and countless other movements that transformed the music industry. The first NME Awards of 1953 remain a historic landmark for inaugurating a tradition that helped record, year after year, the evolution of popular music in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world.