Each year, The Blues Foundation presents the Keeping the Blues Alive (KBA) Awards to individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the Blues world. Categories and past recipients can be found by clicking on Past Recipients or Search on the navigation bar on the left side of this page. Awards are not necessarily awarded in each category every year.
The Blues Foundation will present the 2010 KBA Awards during a recognition brunch Saturday, January 23, 2010, at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The KBA ceremony will be part of the International Blues Challenge (IBC) weekend of events. For complete information about the 2010 International Blues Challenge weekend click here. The 2010 weekend schedule will be posted on October 1, 2009.
Unlike the Blues Music Awards, the highest award in the Blues voted on by the thousands of members of The Blues Foundation, the KBAs are awarded to non-performers strictly on the basis of merit by a select panel of Blues professionals. Noted educator, author, journalist, and KBA Chairman Art Tipaldi notes “The KBA is awarded for the recipient's lifetime body of work; we don’t view the recipient as the winner of a ‘best of the year’ category. Consistent with this philosophy, the committee generally refrains from awarding the KBA to an individual or organization more than once. Rather, we select a new deserving winner each year, except in rare cases when a significant period of time has elapsed since the first award.”
Affiliated organizations, past KBA recipients and members of The Blues Foundation's Board of Directors are eligible to submit nominations. Submit 6 copies of your printed nomination and documentation supporting your nominations to The Blues Foundation's offices before October 1, 2009. The form will be e-mailed to eligible nominators in July.
