The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has recruited another 128 journalists to join the voting body that selects the nominees and winners of the annual Golden Globe Awards.
The new recruits bring the number of people set to vote for the 2024 Globe kudos to 310, representing journalists from 76 countries around the world. The HFPA had publicly committed to significantly expanding the voting base for the Globes after facing scandal and upheaval for the lack of diversity among its membership base and for its internal practices.
Last year, the HFPA recruited 103 new international journalists to vote on the 2023 Globe Awards that were handed out this past January. Of that group, 87 are returning as voters for 2024, along with the 128 new recruits. That total of 215 voters will join with 95 full-fledged members of the HFPA to bring the Globes voting body up to 310.
With the new voters included, the racial and ethnic breakdown of the voters determining the Globe awards will be 25% Latinx, 14% Asian, 10% Black, 9% Middle Eastern and 42% white, according to the HFPAs news release. At least 17% of the voting body self-identifies as LGBTQIA+.
The Globe awards handed out in January were determined by 200 voters, with 52% of those self-identifying as ethnically diverse, per HFPA. To be eligible as a Globes voter, journalists must live outside the U.S. and demonstrate verified entertainment journalistic clippings for international media outlets.
We have exceeded our goal of reaching 300 voters for the upcoming 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards
thanks to an extensive global recruitment effort, said HFPA president Helen Hoehne. We are
excited at the unprecedented achievement in building a truly global voting body where 58% self-identify
as ethnically diverse.
The HFPA is also in the process of expanding the core membership of that organization. The new voters for the Globes will not be full-fledged members of the association but they will be subject to the HFPAs Golden Globes Code of Conduct rules. According to its bylaws, the HFPAs window for recruiting new members comes in the summer time. The HFPA added 21 new members in October 2021.
The news about the Globes voting body comes as the HFPA and its Globes TV partner Dick Clark Productions are shopping for a new TV deal for the kudocast, which is set to hold its 81st edition on Jan. 7, 2024. The Globes had a long-term pact with NBC since the early 1990s but the partnership was strained by the controversy that enveloped the HFPA after the Los Angeles Times reported in early 2021 that the organization had no Black members. The HFPA itself had faced criticism for years about the membership and business practices around the Globes.
After the Times report, major Hollywood publicity firms vowed to boycott the Globes until the HFPA made fundamental changes to the organization that had previously been insular and opaque. The new Globe voters bring in representation from such countries Cameroon, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Serbia and Tanzania.
The efforts put forth to identify, engage, and actively recruit diverse voters is strong evidence of the
commitment by the Golden Globes to follow through on its promises to expand and reshape itself, said
Neil Phillips, HFPAs chief diversity officer. It shows that with the right leadership, effective community
partnerships and an unwavering focus, we can achieve remarkable and transformational diversity
growth.
Disclosure: Variety parent company PMC owns Dick Clark Prods.