Award recipients have included Joan Baez, Cat Stevens, John Martyn, Steve Earle, The Dubliners, Martin Carthy, Billy Bragg, Shirley Collins, Kate Rusby, Cara Dillon, Eliza Carthy, Bellowhead, June Tabor, Oysterband, Aly Bain, Richard Thompson, Nancy Kerr, Seth Lakeman, Show of Hands, Lau, Tom Paxton, Don McLean, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Nic Jones, Bella Hardy, Rhiannon Giddens, Norma Waterson, The Chieftains, Joan Armatrading and James Taylor.

Kellie While of Smooth Operations has stated that the idea of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards was conceived by the company in 1999, inspired by the Country Music Awards, and brought to the BBC,[1] and The Guardian has attributed their creation to John Leonard, who formed Smooth Operations in 1995.

[2] The awards event has been staged in different regions of the United Kingdom, including The Brewery in London, The Lowry theatre in Salford, the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall during the 2013 Celtic Connections festival, the Bridgewater Hall during the 2019 Manchester Folk Festival,[3] the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff in 2015,[4] and the Belfast Waterfront in 2018.

The controlling body is the Folk Awards Committee, comprising two BBC staff, two from the production company 7digital Creative, and one external expert.

The Folk Awards Committee selects a panel of 150 representatives from the British folk world, including broadcasters, journalists, record producers, festival organisers, venue bookers, record company directors, agents and promoters.

They are now voted by a much smaller specialist panel of judges, appointed by the Folk Awards committee, whose identities are published.

[14] In 2014, a posthumous award was introduced to celebrate the contribution of significant figures in folk music's past.