Yeah,,, I have been thinking that for a while. In the UK they have the Mercury Prize which is a music award given annually for the best British or Irish album of the previous 12 months. It was established in 1992 as an alternative to the industry-dominated Brit awards.
They often uncover new talent before the general public even knows about an artist (they blew up Dizzee Rascal a couple years back).
I really believe we need something like that here. Popularity votes are cool and that should be recognised (as that usually relates to sales, and that's what the music industry is about), but we do need an award that recognises talent, rather than sales as the two do not necessarily go hand in hand.
No award is without controversy, but industry-dominated awards are always annoying for fans of 'real' music.
Mercury Prize web site here:
http://www.nationwidemercurys.com/