Twenty years ago, we decided to break the mold and do something that had never been done in New Orleans before: we put together awards to honor local musicians—and only local musicians.

So that’s what we did.

There’s a lot more to local music than “headliners” and the classic R&B performers and jazzmen, and we wanted to reflect that in our awards. For years, we gave an award to the “Sideman” of the year—this is a guy (or girl) who isn’t a bandleader, but who’s someone who consistently devotes their talents to others’ bands. They need love and appreciation, too.

We give awards for best musician or band, best album and best performers or musicians in myriad categories of music and instruments. It’s important to recognize the fantastic array of musical talent we have in the city and the state in that particular year.

Some won’t agree with the recipients of the awards, but we try to make the voting as fair as we possibly can by soliciting nomination suggestions from the music community first and foremost. We figure they are the source of the best information. We then run the suggestions through a committee that consists of our writers and editors to come up with the final ballot. The final ballot is then placed online so that the public can also contribute to the winners’ selection.

By the time you read this, the official ballot will have been online on our website for over a week. Official voting ends on Friday, January 10 at 5 p.m. So, please vote for the musicians or bands that you feel have done their best work in the year 2013.

The awards will take place this year once again on January 18—this year on Saturday—at Generations Hall, 310 Andrew Higgins Drive. We have over 25 great restaurants who’ll be serving at the event this year, and a line-up of bands that include Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, bounce diva Cheeky Blakk, Feufollet, Glen David Andrews and his band, chanteuse Robin Barnes, the kickin’ Brass-A-Holics, and an all-star tribute to this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient, Cyril Neville.

We also select Lifetime Achievement Recipients in Music Business (Sherman Bernard); Music Education (Jason Patterson); and the Heartbeat Award to Dr. Steve Price. All of these gentlemen will be honored at the January 18 event, as well as at a private event earlier in the week.

We’re ready to give some praise to our music and musicians. Join us at the Best of The Beat this year by buying a ticket in the OffBeat store (www.offbeat.com/store) or at the Generations Hall box office.

This issue also celebrates what OffBeat writers and editors feel is the best music of the year, and we name the top 50 CDs of 2013. So maybe we should call this issue, “Simply the Best!”