Sterling Gospel Awards continues to grow

In the midst of the excitement surrounding Buju Banton’s long-awaited concert, the organisers of the annual Sterling Gospel Awards say they are still expecting a great turnout for their event on Saturday night.

The event, now in its third year, is set to take place at the Knutsford Court Hotel and will be the first staging in Kingston after its debut in Mandeville in 2017.

Media personality and devout Christian Basillia Barnaby-Cuff said that Banton’s concert will not affect the awards event, as not only was the date announced long before Banton’s concert dates were made public, but also because both events cater to two contrasting audiences.

“Our support is coming from two different demographics, so we are not worried about a thing,” she said. “Both events will be held, and both will be well supported.”

Barnaby-Cuff says industry persons are happy that they now have a ceremony dedicated to honouring their hard work. “I have been in the industry for over 10 years, and I realised that we don’t have anything like this for us persons in the gospel fraternity and I wanted us to have something that our creative people can look forward to.”

Barnaby-Cuff says while this is only the third year since the awards show got under way, she has seen a lot of growth.

“Starting the Sterling Gospel Awards was and is a walk of faith. We kinda feel like we’re in year eight because of the amount of work we’ve had to do and the amount of support we have received,” she said.

One of the ways she hopes to expand is to have the awards ceremony being hosted in different parishes.

“The gospel industry is not confined to Mandeville or to Kingston or to any one parish, so we want to include everyone just to give them a feel of what it’s like to host an awards show,” she said. “Just like they do it internationally, where major award shows are hosted in different cities, we want to expand to a point where all the parishes in Jamaica are included in our future plans.”

Gospel industry players will tomorrow be awarded in 18 different categories, including Album of the Year, Male Artiste of the Year, Female Artiste of the Year, and Video of the Year.

The evening’s programme will also feature live performances from artistes such as Lt Stitchie, Ryan Mark and Rhoda Isabella.