After whittling down a long list of nominees, officials of the Texas Talent Musicians Association have announced the top three finalists in each of the 16 categories for the 16th annual Tejano Music Awards. This year, the accordion-based conjunto roots of Tejano are beginning to find overdue recognition.

The awards show, scheduled for March 23 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, is expected to draw an audience of more than 42,000 Tejano fans. It is the largest and most prestigious event honoring Texas-Mexican music and musicians. Nominations and balloting came from the musicians association members, record companies, Tejano format radio stations and randomly selected households.

Like most awards presentations, typically one or two artists tend to dominate the categories. In the past, Tejano acts such as Selena Quintanilla, Emilio (Navaira), Grupo Mazz and Ram Herrera have been the most visible contenders. In fact, the tendency for the nominations to focus on a small number of artists, mostly from San Antonio, has been a source of criticism and controversy that has surrounded the awards show since 1990 and inspired alternative awards presentations such as the Pura Vida Awards in June.

This year Emilio and Mazz share the Tejano awards spotlight with ''conjunto progressive'' groups La Tropa F, David Lee Garza y los Musicales, The Hometown Boys, the Michael Salgado Band and Jaime de Anda y los Chamacos. Where Tejano has traditionally meant keyboards, synthesizers and young musicians, this year's strong showing of seasoned accordion-led bands points to a broadening...