The 52nd Annual CMA Awards show will feature dozens of artists but only 12 winners. The winners are a closely guarded secret until the moment when they are announced on the live broadcast.

Here’s how the voting works.

The CMA Awards are similar to the Oscars and the Grammys. Members of the Country Music Association vote for their peers and decide who wins. Some 7,300 CMA members include music executives, artists, publicists, musicians, touring professionals and more.

To qualify for the 2018 awards, the work must have been released between July 1, 2017, and June 30, 2018.  Members go through the voting process not once or twice, but three times.

Awards Ballots are tabulated by accounting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP. 

The original CMA Awards trophy was designed to look like a chart bullet.  It was made of walnut with a marble base, to symbolize the strength, durability, and warmth of country music. But when walnut wood was in short supply in 1983, they started making the trophy out of hand-blown crystal from Italy.

The Italian crystal is shipped to Tennessee and the trophies are assembled in Nashville.  Each trophy stands 15 inches tall and weighs 7 1/2 pounds.

The CMA logo is on a bronze medallion, which is engraved with the winner’s name and the CMA Awards category after the live show.

You can watch the excitement of the live CMA Awards on Wednesday, November 14 at 8/7c.