The last Awards from March 2003 was presented by some surprise guests including Mica Paris, Manu Dibango and Jon Snow.
Read profiles from all this year's nominees. View a slide show of action pictures from this year's show. Download our new Awards screensaver. A wonderful new double album featuring all the nominees is now available. Read a review of this compilation.
The shortlist was voted on by delegates to WOMEX, the annual world music expo, held Oct 24-27th in Essen. Winners will be chosen by a jury of world-music experts from Radio 3 & our partner organisations.
The Critics Award for Album of the Year is run by fRoots Magazine using an international panel of experts. The shortlist features Eliza Carthy, Youssou n'Dour, Salif Keita and Orchestra Baobab:
