Basillia Barnaby-Cuff, organiser of the Sterling Gospel Music Awards, believes the event has lived up to its mandate.

According to Barnaby-Cuff, the event —its sixth staging held last Saturday at The Ambassadors on Hagley Park Road in St Andrew — not only recognises frontline gospel practitioners, but also those who work behind the scenes.

“Our mandate has always been to highlight and recognise the contribution of individuals to the gospel music industry, and that we continue to do. This year, our KFC Big Deal Award for Excellence, which was bestowed on 10 musicians, is another testament to the fact that we are not only about honouring those on the frontline, but also those who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make our Industry what it is today,” Barnaby-Cuff told the Jamaica Observer.

At Saturday’s event, singjay Chozenn (Male Artiste of The Year and Local Hit of The Year for Jesus Rock), broadcaster Ava Gay Blair-Brown (Most Rated Radio Programme of The Year — Gospel JA and Gospel Personality of The Year), and DJ Nicholas (collaboration of The Year for Mek A Way featuring Sherwin Gardner, and Album of The Year for Abnormal Decibels) were multiple winners, taking home two awards each.

Other winners included Petra Kaye Linton (Female Artiste of the Year), Mykal Malachi (EP of the Year – Rise to Greatness), Levy’s Heritage (Group of the Year), Orville Sutherland (Video of the Year – Nothing But the Blood) and Prince Saj (Breakout Sensation of the Year).

It was the first in-person staging of the event since the restrictions that were imposed due to the novel coronavirus.

“After having it staged virtually for two years, it was hard to imagine a physical staging again, after so long. But our producer Brian Cuff made sure that the execution was on point and up to the ‘Sterling’ standard our attendees are accustomed to. We had an amazing evening and from the reviews, our guests did too. And we are grateful to God for that,” said Barnaby-Cuff.

She shared what was the highlight for her at Saturday night’s event.

“It was simply just watching our attendees dance and worship in a physical space. I never thought we would have gotten back to this place. And it felt amazing!” she said.

Among the performers at the event were Lubert Levy, Barbara “Saxgurl Barb” Witter, Leonel Teape, Orville Sutherland, Rhoda Isabella, and Rian Davis.

Said Barnaby-Cuff, “We are always looking to add more categories to the show, so over the next year we will continue to monitor what’s happening in the industry and add more or adjust the existing ones.”

O’Shane McHugh ,who was nominated in the category Breakout Artiste of the Year, said the event was reminiscent of the Grammy Awards.

“It was an awesome experience just being a part of the celebration. It was a great event and it felt like the Grammys”, said McHugh.