Brit Awards scrap male and female categories

Dua Lipa and J Hus will go down in history as the last stars to win best female and male at the Brit Awards.

That's because, from next year, the two categories will be combined into a single prize for best British artist, organisers have said.

Artists like Sam Smith and Will Young had previously called for the change, saying the current system excludes non-binary artists.

Smith, who is non-binary, missed out on a nomination at this year's awards.

Their album, Love Goes, reached number two in the UK chart, but they felt unable to enter the gender-based categories.

Writing on Instagram at the time, the star called for awards shows to be more "reflective of the society we live in".

"The Brits have been an important part of my career," Smith said in a now-deleted post. "Music for me has always been about unification not division.

"I look forward to a time where awards shows can be reflective of the society we live in. Let's celebrate everybody, regardless of gender, race, age, ability, sexuality and class."

The Brits have awarded prizes along gender lines since they began in 1977. Organisers promised to review the way the prizes in 2019, but kept the male and female categories intact until now.

"If you were starting the awards from scratch today, you'd probably do it on these ," said Gennaro Castaldo, a spokesperson for music industry body the BPI, which runs the awards.

"Why shouldn't the likes of Adele and Ed Sheeran be able to go head to head and be judged as artists... assuming they're nominated":[]}