The Brits have announced that they will be reviewing their prize distribution, specifically discussing the option of abolishing the use of separate male and female categories.

Whilst they have confirmed with the BBC that the male and female categories will remain for the 2020 awards taking place in February, the speculated aim of these changes is to accommodate to non-binary artists. The announcement came just one week after Sam Smith came out as non-binary, asking fans to use the pronouns “they/them”, as opposed to “he/him”. Miley Cyrus, King Princess and Christine and the Queens are just three other artists whom also reject the traditional gender roles.

Whilst the Brit Awards would not be the first award ceremony to abolish separate, gender based awards, the announcement received some backlash from the Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan, who accused the organisers of ‘wrecking their reputations’ in an outburst on the show.

He went on to say “I suspect what will happen is male performers will end up winning all of the awards than the women. The whole point of having the gender categories is to make it fair and equal, now we’re going the other way and that apparently is progress. I think it’s a load of nonsense.”

However, the outcomes of other ceremonies such as the MTV Music Awards tells another story. Since replacing the separate best male and best female awards, the winners of the best artist awards have been Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello and Ariana Grande respectfully. In addition, the National TV Awards’ Best Drama Performance prize has been won equally between men and women, with David Tennant, Richard Madden, Suranne Jones and Sheridan Smith being former recipients of the award.

Although these changes will not be prominent in the 2020 Brit Awards, the awards’ organisers have revealed that there will be significant changes to the categories, the extent of which, are yet to be seen.