"God was the true winner of the evening."
The 20th Annual Stellar Awards, held last Saturday at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX, ended in triumphant celebration of the Gospel music genre's artists, both contemporary and traditional, producers, and principle figure and ambassador, God.
The event, which was filled with dazzling performances and unforgettable moments, turned into, "an evening of praise and worship," according to GospelCity.com, "through God's anointing on Tonex," the Gospel impresario turned preacher who was recently dubbed the genre's new "It-man." Co-hosting alongside veterans Donnie McClurkin and Yolanda Adams, Tonex, "brought down the house" in letting the audience know that, "God was the true winner of the evening."
While crediting God with the ultimate victory, Tonex left the event a winner in his own right, making a clean sweep of the six categories he was nominated for, including Artist of the Year, Song of the Year ("Make Me Over"), Contemporary Male Vocalist of the Year ("Out The Box"), Contemporary CD of the Year ("Out The Box"), Urban/Inspirational Performance of the Year ("Out the Box"), and Rap/Hip Hop Gospel CD of the Year ("Thank Q/Out The Box").
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Other big winners of the night included traditionalists The Williams Brothers and Bishop Paul S. Morton with three a piece, and contemporary Gospel favorites CeCe Winans and Israel Houghton with two each.
For a complete list of results, please visit http://www.gospelflava.com/stellar/stellarresults-2005.html
This years performances ranged from the historical to the breath-taking, with reunions of both the Hawkins Family (Tramaine, Walter, Lynette and Edward) and the Caravans (Shirley Caesar, Inez Andrews, Dorothy Norwood and Albertina Walker) and electrifying opening and closing presentations from Israel Houghton & New Breed and Kirk Franklin & God's Property featuring the Texas Southern University Ocean of Soul Marching Band, respectively.
If you missed all the excitement, The 20th Annual Stellar Awards will be airing in syndication on 147 stations throughout the United States until mid-February. For a complete list of airtimes, please visit http://www.gospelflava.com/stellar/stellarawards2005airdates2.pdf
