[2][3][4][5] A jury of sports journalists, experts and BBC editors vote on a long-list of fifty Indian sportswomen nominated on the basis of their performance in a 12 month period preceding the year of the award.

The shortlisted nominee with the highest number of public votes is declared winner and awarded the title of "BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year".

[18][19] The shortlisted nominees who proceeded to the public vote were: In a virtual ceremony held on 8 March 2021, the BBC named Koneru Humpy as Indian Sportswoman of the Year 2020.

[26] A sports edit-a-thon was organised as part of the ISWOTY 2021, where journalism students from across the country created/improved articles on Indian sportswomen in various Indic language Wikipedias.

This edition marked the introduction of the Indian Para Sportswoman for the Year Award which was presented to Bhavina Patel for her achievements in Table Tennis.

[3][4][5] India's Commonwealth gold medal-winning lawn bowls team, composed of Lovely Choubey, Rupa Rani Tirkey, Pinki Singh and Nayanmoni Saikia were also honoured at the ceremony, receiving a special trophy for their historic achievement.