It's hard to believe it's already that time of year again. People seem to say that when it comes to anything from graduation time (congrats!) to holiday shopping, but for Rocks Off it's hardest of all to believe when it's time for our readers to choose their favorite local performers in the annual Houston Press Music Awards.

That time is now. The 2013 HPMA nomination ballot is now online and all ready for you to vote. Seriously. This year is our 25th year too, so we're hoping for a couple more big announcements before all is said and done.

This year to go along with that sleek HPMA logo, the work of our great Houston Press Art Director Monica Fuentes, we have streamlined the categories too. You'll now be voting on 34 instead of 40 HPMA winners, as reflected by the following changes:

• "Best LP/CD/EP" and "Best Mixtape" have been combined into "Best Local Recording." This includes digital-only albums.
• "Best Keyboards" have been added.
• To clarify the rock categories a little further, we now have "Best Traditional Rock" and "Best Modern Rock."
• "Best Folk" and "Best Americana" have been combined.

Here's what the ballot will look like:

BEST LOCAL RECORDING

BEST COVER/TRIBUTE ACT

The following categories have been relocated from the HPMAs to our Best of Houston awards: Best Radio Station, Best Radio Program, Best Local Label, Best Live Music Venue, Best Record Store, and Best Instrument/Equipment Store. Best of Houston will appear later on this year, so they're not going anywhere, really.

That's it. Get to nominating. The HPMA nomination ballot is right over here. You must give us your name, email address, and cell phone number, but we swear we will only use it to send out SMS alerts regarding the HPMAs and not call you in the middle of the night. We'll be asleep anyway. Nominations run until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, May 22.

Oh, one more thing. This year the nominations have been limited to one ballot per person as opposed to one ballot per day, so choose wisely.