Stone Love, as usual officially kicked off the 'awards season' at their anniversary celebrations on Saturday night at Mas Camp. Of course, we all know the saying, 'you can't please everybody', so while some were delighted, there were more than a few not-too-happy campers.

One thing is obvious, however, is that the 'deejay of the year' baton has finally made a transition out of the hands of Bounty Killer and Beenie Man, who reigned supreme for longer than anybody.

From Left, Bounty Killer, Junior Reid and Mavado at Stone Love's anniversary dance on Saturday.

The coveted titles of Deejay of the Year Male and Female went to Vybz Kartel and D'Angel respectively, while the man from the gullyside, Mavado was named Singjay of the Year. Serani was named Singer of the Year, and the Best New Artiste, Male and Female went to Konshens and Pamputae. Etana collected the award for Singer of the Year, and Stone Love selector, Diamond was named Employee of the Year.

Interestingly, there was no award for Song of the Year, possibly reflecting the lack of exceptionally high-quality output from the industry over the past twelve months. We must hasten to note that there have been good songs this year, notably Courtney John's Missing You; Better Man and Nuh Linga by Terry Linen, Etana's Don't Forget, Tarrus Riley's Far Away, Beres' I Surrender and the cover of Air Supply's, Just as I am by the quartet, LUST, but nothing really compares to the impact of last year's runaway hit, She's Royal by Tarrus Riley.

Bad Man Don't Cry but the big man can cry
We have to send a special one out to the real big man, diamond-selling artiste Shaggy. Did anyone else notice him shedding a few tears at the Bustamante Hospital for Children last week? Mr Boombastic got all teary as Kadian McIntosh, the mother of young Ashley Anderson, related her daughter's plight. This comes on the heels of the release of his latest single and video, Bad Man Don't Cry.

We have never really seen Shaggy as a 'bad man' so seeing him get all misty just proves that Mr Lover Lover does have a sensitive side. It is clearly that sensitive side that is driving his efforts to raise US$2 million for the hospital. His concert, scheduled for January 3 on the lawns of Jamaica House is shaping up to to be one of the highlights of the holiday season. Some of the international names being dropped so far are Jay Holiday, Sean Kingston and Macy Gray.

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'

Cheeky's World