On March 26, the gospel community gathered at the 33rd Annual Stellar Awards at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas to celebrate achievements in the gospel community. Hosted by gospel music legend Kirk Franklin, the award show honored an array of guests from singer Tasha Cobbs to photographer Derek Blanks.
Twenty-two-time Stellar Award winner Marvin Sapp added two more awards to his collection winning Traditional Male Vocalist of the Year, and Traditional CD of the Year for his chart-topping album Close. Popular contemporary artists Travis Greene snagged four awards including Producer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Contemporary Male Vocalist of the Year, and the Stellar Awards’ prestigious Artist of the Year, for his album Crossover: Live from Music City. Icon Kurt Carr was inducted into the Stellar Honors Hall of Fame for his pioneering career and indelible impact on gospel music, along with Ben Tankard Dr. Marabeth Gentry. OWN network’s “Greenleaf” ranked in the list of award winners, taking home the Special Event CD of the Year for the Greenleaf Soundtrack: Volume 2.
With awesome performances by Travis Greene, Le’Andria Johnson, Donald Lawrence, Koryn Hawthorne, Tasha Page-Lockhart, and Christon Gray, all eyes were on Snoop Dogg as he made his Stellar Awards debut, performing his song “Words Are Few” with B. Slade from his first gospel album, Bible of Love.
The 33rd Annual Stellar Awards airs on TV One today, March 30, 2018, at 9 PM EST, with additional airings in broadcast syndication from March 31 to May 6.
Check out the list of winners below:
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
- – Travis Greene, Crossover Live in Music City, RCA Inspiration
SONG OF THE YEAR
- – David Bloom, Cortez Vaughn, Phontane Demond Reed & JJ Hairston, You Deserve It, JamesTown Music/Entertainment One
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
- – Travis Greene, Crossover Live in Music City, RCA Inspiration
ALBERTINA WALKER FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
- – Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Passion. Pursuit., Motown Gospel
DUO/CHORUS GROUP OF THE YEAR
- – Anthony Brown & group therAPy, A Long Way from Sunday, Key of A/FairTrade/Tyscot Records
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
- – Isabel Davis, The Call, Uncle G Records
CD OF THE YEAR
- – You Deserve It, JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise, JamesTown Music/Entertainment One
CHOIR OF THE YEAR
- – JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise, You Deserve It, JamesTown Music/Entertainment One
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
- – Travis Greene, Crossover Live in Music City, RCA Inspiration
CONTEMPORARY DUO/CHORUS GROUP OF THE YEAR
- – Anthony Brown & group therAPy, A Long Way from Sunday, Key of A/FairTrade/Tyscot Records
TRADITIONAL DUO/CHORUS GROUP OF THE YEAR
- – The Rance Allen Group, Live from San Francisco, Tyscot Records
CONTEMPORARY MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
- – Travis Greene, Crossover Live in Music City, RCA Inspiration
TRADITIONAL MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
- – Marvin Sapp, Close, Verity/RCA Inspiration
CONTEMPORARY FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
- – Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Passion. Pursuit., Motown Gospel
TRADITIONAL FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
- – CeCe Winans, Let them Fall in Love, Pure Springs Gospel
CONTEMPORARY CD OF THE YEAR
- – Passion. Pursuit., Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Motown Gospel
TRADITIONAL CD OF THE YEAR
- – Close, Marvin Sapp, Verity/RCA Inspiration
URBAN/INSPIRATIONAL SINGLE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
- – You Deserve It, JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise, JamesTown Music/Entertainment One
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
- Derek Blanks, We Livin – It’s Still Personal (Tina Campbell), Gee Tree Creative/Malaco
TRADITIONAL CHOIR OF THE YEAR
- – Bishop Paul S. Morton, Legacy Live in New Orleans, Tehillah Music Group/Entertainment One
CONTEMPORARY CHOIR OF THE YEAR
- – JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise, You Deserve It, JamesTown Music/Entertainment One
INSTRUMENTAL CD OF THE YEAR
- – Kirk Whalum, #LoveCovers, Top Drawer Records
SPECIAL EVENT CD OF THE YEAR
- – Greenleaf Soundtrack Season 2, Various Artists, RCA Inspiration
RAP HIP HOP GOSPEL CD OF THE YEAR
- – Greatness, Canton Jones, Radar Live/Cajo Records
YOUTH PROJECT OF THE YEAR
- – God’s Little Soldiers International Boys Choir, Through the Years, DIR/Motor City Praise
QUARTET OF THE YEAR
- – The Williams Brothers, Timeless, Blackberry Records
RECORDED MUSIC PACKAGING OF THE YEAR
- – Derek Blanks, Passion. Pursuit. (Tasha Cobbs Leonard), Motown Gospel
PRAISE AND WORSHIP CD OF THE YEAR
- – You Deserve It, JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise, JamesTown Music/Entertainment One
JAMES CLEVELAND LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
- – Tamela Mann
THOMAS A. DORSEY MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
- – Bishop Kenneth Moales, Sr.
BOBBY JONES LEGENDS AWARD
- – Milton Biggham
ICON AWARD
- – Edwin Hawkins (posthumously)
STELLAR HONORS HALL OF FAME
Ben Tankard
Dr. Marabeth Gentry
Kurt Carr
GOSPEL RADIO OF THE YEAR Winners
MAJOR MARKET OF THE YEAR
- – WGRB-AM 1390AM (Inspiration 1390), Chicago, Sonya Blakey
LARGE MARKET OF THE YEAR
- – WOKB 1680AM, Orlando/Central Florida, Shanti Persaud
MEDIUM MARKET OF THE YEAR
- – WFMI 100.9, Virginia Beach, Mike Chandler
SMALL MARKET OF THE YEAR
- – KSYB 1300AM, Shreveport, Rhonda Phillips- Sanders
INTERNET STATION OF THE YEAR
- – SOAR Radio, soarradio.com, Justin Francis
GOSPEL ANNOUNCER OF THE YEAR
- – Liz Black, 1190AM WLIB, New York, NY
