A warm welcome to the 2nd Annual Step FWD Awards and the very first of our Magazine features! The inaugural Step FWD Awards in 2021 was met by unprecedented enthusiasm, even garnering international recognition far surpassing our expectations. Something truly special began in those uncertain post-pandemic months, guaranteed to propel UK Christian music beyond its traditional confines, touching the hearts of many new listeners and ultimately changing popular culture. Step FWD Awards are however primarily about ‘honouring one another’ in line with Romans 12:10, giving due recognition to the many new & established talented music artists on the UK CG and Gospel scene, bringing this richly diverse community together in an annual celebration.
It is always our pleasure to serve with boundarybreaking excellence and now we take another step to provide print visuals alongside the radio, online and TV opportunities we’ve facilitated over the years for artists and music lovers nationally and globally. In this programme format you will be able to follow the announcements for each category and put names to faces, as we proudly showcase the abundance of talent. Enjoy!
O’Neil Dennis
Brief
Pop
Table of Contents | Editor’s Notes ..............................................................................................
............................................
History of UK Christian Charts & Step FWD Awards
SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES
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Rock / Metal + ChillHop / LoFi
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..............................................................................................................................
Electronic / Dance + Poetry / Spoken Word
Afrobeat + Reggae
+ Rap ..........................................................................................................
Indie / Folk / Acoustic
+
/ Soul ................................................................................................................................... Contemporary Gospel + Contemporary Worship ............................................................. ANNUAL MUSIC AWARDS Collaboration of the Year + Songwriter of the Year .......................................................... Most Featured Artist of the Year ................................................................................................. Music Video of the Year + Media Platform of the Year ................................................... International Artist of the Year + International Duo/Group of the Year ............... New Artist of the Year + Female Artist of the Year ........................................................... Male Artist of the Year + Duo/Group of the Year ................................................................ HONORARY AWARDS Outstanding Contribution Award ............................................................................................ The Lavine Hudson Award for Vocal Excellence .............................................................. The John Paculabo Award for Industry Development .................................................. Lifetime Achievement ..................................................................................................................... Sponsors and Media Partners ...................................................................................................... 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 13 14 15 16 17 20 21 18 “ “ “ 24 Step FWD Awards (Instagram) @stepfwdawards (Facebook) @stepfwdawards (Twitter) @stepfwdawards www.stepfwdawards.com www.astepfwd.com For future advertising: sales@astepfwd.com Founder/Editor-in-Chief: O’Neil
UK
Elijah
Sub-Editor/PR
Marketing:
Design:
RnB
Dennis
Christian Charts (Manager):
Sazhin
&
Samantha Radford
Stephen Davis Jehoshaphat Kwame Adjei Admin: Hannah Lawley-Wakelin A Step FWD Directors: Michael Akinle | Diedre Johnson | Neville Henry | Bishop Danny Bennett The Founder and Directors would especially like to thank the UK Christian Charts (UKCC) team who work tirelessly to keep the month charts system going. Step FWD Awards is powered by the UKCC and we are truly grateful to Kundai Kanyamaure, Uzo Anyia, Ore Bammeke, Sarah Boadi, Raymond Harris, Ming Cooper, Olivia Adedeji, Emmanuel Bolaji, Tamieka Isaacs, Jon-Marc Talbot, Joy Mbugua, Ireoluwa Olajide, Rodah Daniel, Celina Joseph, our Judges, the hundreds of artists and all our supporters.
THE FORMULA
The UK Christian Charts (UKCC) is the national charting system curated monthly by A Step FWD, serving both emerging and established artists. During the twelve months running up to July 2022 we were once again positively overwhelmed with overall submissions reaching 763!
With such a thriving UK Christian music scene a key highlight of the annual Step FWD Awards is announcing the winner of Song of the Year (SOTY). This year we were blessed again with a diverse array of Christian Chart topping tracks with 126 songs having reached the top of their respective categories in each month across the year.
The 12 SONG OF THE YEAR categories include:
Contemporary Worship | Contemporary Gospel | RnB / Soul | Electronic / Dance
ChillHop / LoFi | Indie / Folk / Acoustic | Afrobeat | Rap | Reggae | Pop Poetry / Spoken Word | Rock / Metal
You will find on the following pages a breakdown of the SOTY 2022 nominees by category. With such an abundance of great music, the Step FWD media team arranged these chart toppers into twelve convenient online playlists introducing the nominees in ten second soundbytes.
On Tuesday 13th September, Step FWD hosted an announcement party for the SOTY nominated artists. With the principle of ‘outdoing one another in showing honour’ of Romans 12:10 underpinning Step FWD Awards, this was an opportunity to bring everyone in the industry together to celebrate the diversity of musical gifts, talents and sounds in anticipation of the main event on 26th November 2022.
However it is you, the audience, that makes all this possible by supporting the artists! Next we invited members of the public to vote for their favourite song over an intense three week period, ending 29th of October. To ensure the public vote is the deciding factor, it was made possible to vote once every 24 hours. The top track was then narrowed down by public vote and 150 Judges who sit on the UKCC monthly panel (weighted 2:1 respectively). Now you are privy to the process, make sure you look out for the SOTY 2022 Winners!
Step FWD Awards - History in the making
The inaugural Step FWD Awards was held just one year ago on 27th November 2021 as the first ‘Best of British’ definitive UK Christian Contemporary & Gospel Music awards in the style of “Dove meets Stellar”. Honouring 40+ years of music legacy as well as recognising contemporary and emerging musical talent, the Step FWD Awards celebrate the rich diversity found in UK Christian music reflective of wider society.
Founder O’Neil Dennis conceptualised the Step FWD Awards on the underlying principle of ‘outdoing one another in showing honour’ found at Romans 12:10 (ESV). Fittingly, great care is taken to ensure there is diverse representation of the artists contributing to CCM and Gospel Music across the UK. Performers and award winners range from New Artist of the Year through to well-established artists on whose shoulders the current industry was built, receiving Outstanding Contribution and Lifetime Achievement Awards.
“The challenge we have as a community is maintaining the momentum created by the Step FWD Awards throughout the year, supporting and equipping artists to continue making great music to reach hearts with the gospel message.” - Samantha Radford, PR & Marketing Manager, A Step FWD
SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES I HOPE IT NEVER ENDS Paradise Now 78 (HIDDEN THINGS) Tom Read FALL DOWN Amongst Wolves PEACE. CALM. BREATHE Pyramid Park I’D BE LYING TO MYSELF Amongst Wolves BE LIKE YOU Jonathan Ogden ft. Darla Baltazar SEE YOU INSTEAD Amongst Wolves REJOICE Sarah Nathalie, Asha Elia Rebekah Young HAPPENING Janine John I KNOW IT Jonny Henninger ft. Noel Mio LOW Jonathan Odgen STAY Army of Bones I’M HAPPY sxxnt LIVING WATER Jonathan Odgen CANNOT SEE A WAY God’s Mind, Body & Spirit LIKE JEHOVAH Gwil Davey ALRIGHT (REMIX BY CHRIS HOWLAND) Jonathan Odgen REST Madeleine Kerzner NO ONE LIKE YOU Jonny Henninger ft. Sarah Nathalie ROCK / METAL CHILLHOP / LOFI
SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES BACK IN TIME LZ7 AIN’T GOT TOO LONG Joshua Luke Smith Wild Sons MOVE Worship For Everyone ft. Daisy Drake, Noah Smith, Gas Street Youth HOPE ALIVE Yemi Alafifuni DEAD - A LIVING WORD Sharon ONE MORE DANCE ADO ft. Juls I BLESS YOUR NAME Joyce Ochelle NEED OF YOU Blessed Poetry TO THE HEAVENS WYLD LAMB OF GOD Lurine Cato LION OF JUDAH LIfeline LOVE THE WAY Allstars Kids Worship ELECTRONIC / DANCE POETRY / SPOKEN WORD
Sponsor a child with Compassion and provide them with life changing support, including nutritious food, access to education, health checks and the care of the local church Your prayers and messages of encouragement will help build their confidence and affirm their worth in Christ Today, Compassion partners with more than 8,000 churches in 25 countries to deliver our proven child development programme to more than 2 million children and youth How do you solve a problem like poverty? To sponsor a child with Compassion UK, visit compassionuk org/astepfwd or scan the QR code. C O M P A S S I O N U K C H R I S T I A N C H I L D D E V E L O P M E N T Compassion House, Barley Way, Fleet, GU51 2UT Registered charity in England and Wales (1077216) and Scotland (SC045059) A company limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales company number 03719092
SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES WINGS Mark Asari WARNING Cerose BELONGS TO YOU Sarah Téibo CLAIM IT (IT’S ALREADY YOURS) Brenda Emmanuel TAKE OVER Shimon Atunde ft. MikeSolo LET THERE BE A SUDDENLY Moya Rowe NO OTHER Ryan Hylton ft. Amanda Kono ARMOUR DJ Shunz ft. 4eva Siege, Ayarna, Nathanael, Maestro Bravest NOBODY KNOWS Muyiwa ft. Tab Worship, Asha Elia, Tee Supreme, Mark Asari DEAR GOD Minister Taf HOLD ON ME CalledOut Music LIMITLESS ONE Renewal Choir ft. Vernon Samuels MERCY Tee Supreme ft. Krane WE’LL OVERCOME Kingsley Wray SO GOOD Uniekgrace LIGHT IT UP LaToyah Bless GOOD TO ME S. O. LEARN TO ABIDE Richie Davis THANK YOU LORD CalledOut Music BEWARE (TRUE VINE RIDDIM) King Arthur BLESSINGS Still Shadey ft. SK I SHALL WEAR A CROWN Shezzie ft. JayJayBorn2Sing STAY WITH ME Annatoria HE’S BEEN GOOD TO ME Keziah Job AFROBEAT REGGAE
SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES FOUR DAYS Graham Kendrick ft. Lucy Grimble AMBER 678NATH ft. Oz Or O UNSETTLED Pyramid Park DOJO Konola HIS WORDS Grace Tena CHAT Vonte Grace WILDERNESS Sarah Reynolds PRIDE & JEALOUSY No Ifz No Butz, Fabien JESUS LOVES ME (HE IS STRONG) KDMusic THE SWORD (REMIX) Kapes A. Witness ft. Bryann Trejo PLEASE YOU Lion Of Judah ETERNITY TJ Cream ft. Marko SAVE MY SOUL Rastonn Hael MESSIAH Reblah ft. Shirlvin Desir, J1W WARM COLD HANDS Peter Sandberg ft. Jake Isaac MONTEGO BAY Condoseven HEAVEN IS HOLDING YOU Loulita Gill COME OUTSIDE Limoblaze ft. Konola YOU HAVE OUR YES Vineyard Worship ft. Rich Dicas, Chloe Edmonds GET IT Dandz ft. R-Scar STILL Jake Isaac BATTLING Konola THE DARKNESS Graham Kendrick ft. Lurine Cato INDULGENCE Condoseven INDIE / FOLK / ACOUSTIC RAP
CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP ‘You’re Still God’ Philippa Hanna | CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL ‘Wade In The Water’ The Spirituals |RNB / SOUL ‘Jesus’ Mark Asari |ELECTRONIC / DANCE ‘Victory’ Sarah Téibo ft. Lou Fellingham, Zahyón, Tom Endersby | INDIE / FOLK / ACOUSTIC ‘Stay Here’ Marizu | POP ‘Real Love’ The Kingdom Choir | ROCK / METAL ‘Voices’ Amongst Wolves | AFROBEAT ‘Yahweh’ Stevie Valentine | RAP ‘Heaven’ Still Shadey | REGGAE ‘Rock I Stand’ Joshua Kesler | CHILLHOP / LO-FI ‘Love That Never Ends’ Jonathan Ogden | POETRY / SPOKEN WORD ‘Lament’ Phil Knox INDIVIDUAL
GROUP
| TOP
|TOP
| MALE
CalledOut
| FEMALE
YEAR
| DUO/GROUP
Gas Street
|NEW
| COLLABORATION
YEAR ‘We Seek Your Kingdom’ LICC ft. Noel Robinson,
|
The
| MUSIC
YEAR ‘Clean’ Lucy
| INTERNATIONAL
Cece
| INTERNATIONAL
YEAR
| SONGWRITER
2021 HIGHLIGHTS
SONG OF THE YEAR
AND
AWARDS TOP MALE ARTIST Guvna B
FEMALE ARTIST Philippa Hanna
DUO/GROUP LZ7
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Music
ARTIST OF THE
Asha Elia
OF THE YEAR
Music
ARTIST OF THE YEAR Grace Tena
OF THE
Lou Fellingham, Andy Flannagan & Donna Akodu
CHOIR OF THE YEAR
Spirituals
VIDEO OF THE
Grimble
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Winans
DUO/GROUP OF THE
Maverick City Music
OF THE YEAR Nick Herbert
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION AWARDS
JOHN PACULABO AWARD FOR INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Karen Gibson | Les Moir | Howard Francis | Ken Burton |Tony Cummings | Beresford Dawkins | Muyiwa Olarewaju OBE | Noel Robinson | Mark Beswick | Juliet Fletcher | Nicky Brown | Roy Francis | Bishop John Francis |Lawrence Johnson | Helmut Kaufman | Andrea Encinas | Bishop Delroy Powell | Chris Bowater | Marcia Dixon MBE | Dave Paul | John Fisher BEM
LAVINE HUDSON AWARD FOR VOCAL EXCELLENCE Lurine Cato MBE
Roger Moore
HIGHLIGHTS
Bazil Meade MBE | Graham Kendrick
SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES BEST VIEWS Ryan Hylton CHANGE Rachel Kerr PARADISE Glochi, Naffymar IN HIS IMAGE Se Ok ft. Naffymar & Oba Reengy CLOSE Caz LIFE Sharyn ft. Triple O PLANS Rend Collective 62 (SPOKEN) Tom Read, Praise Lubangu SAY SO CalledOut Music I LOVE YOU Mercy Ankama SAINTZ Goosebumps BETTER THAN GOLD Rae Rae ft. S.O. FIRE IN YOUR EYES Martin Smith NEW DAY Ruth-Ellen HOW I ROLL OTC OLD HABITS HopeGene I AM Rachel Kerr GOD’S BEST Shan Ako COMING OUT FIGHTING Rend Collective COME THROUGH Duane Caleb ft. Saint CJ NEW ME SoulBox FAITH Soulbox CELEBRATE CalledOut Music PREACH Sondae POP RNB / SOUL
SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEES KINGDOM COME (STUDIO VERSION) Efua B OUR EYES ARE ON YOU Martin Smith ft. Elle Limebear SWEETEST LOVE Rhea Marcia ft. Davecreates STILL GOD (THROUGH IT ALL) Heart Worship SECURE Sarah Téibo ft. Volney Morgan SHELTER Manor Collective ft. Tertia May, Becca Folkes & Called Out Music THE CRY Tab Worship BLESSED ASSURANCE Celtic Worship HEAVY Daphne Richardson AT THE MENTION Jonathan Miller I AM Foreign Praise JESUS NAME ABOVE ALL NAME KXC ft. Keziah Joseph WHERE YOU ARE Sanctuary Music ft. Niiella KEEP ON PROVING IT Gas Street Music, Millie Ferguson, Taku Mudere ANUMNEKA JESUS / IDIRIMUMA (PRAISE MEDLEY) Evans and Purist Ogboi FATHER’S HOUSE Manor Collective ft. Tertia May, Becca Folkes & Called Out Music THE NAME OF JESUS Diana Hamilton TROUBLE Martin Smith ft. The Kingdom Choir WALK WITH ME (OTIS’ DREAM) Common Hymnal ft. Junior Garr, Niiella, Sharon Irving and Chris Blue THIS IS JESUS Tim Hughes, Jeremy Riddle, Gas Street BLESSED BE THE LORD Imaobong Westgarth RISE UP & SERVE HOPE Together ft. Common wealth Choir & Friends THANK YOU Purist Ogboi ft. Faith Child, Evans Ogboi COME THOU FOUNT Celtic Worship CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP
‘YOU
OUR
HAVE
YES (LIVE)’ Vineyard Worship ft. Rich Dicas, Chloe Edmonds
Muyiwa
Riversongz
JAKE ISAAC
‘NOBODY KNOWS’
&
ft. Tab Worship, Asha Elia, Tee Supreme, Mark Asari
‘ARMOUR’ DJ
MARTIN SMITH
Shunz ft. 4eva Siege, Ayarna, Nathanael, Maestro Bravest
‘RISE UP
SERVE’ HOPE
Commonwealth Choir
Friends CALLEDOUT
JONATHAN OGDEN
&
Together ft.
&
MUSIC ‘WALK WITH ME (OTIS’ DREAM)’ Common Hymnal ft. Junior Garr, Niiella, Sharon Irving and Chris Blue
RACHEL KERR
NOMINEES NOMINEES COLLABORATION OF THE YEAR SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
MOST FEATURED ARTIST OF THE YEAR
NOMINEES
ASHA ELIA ELLE LIMEBEAR R-SCAR CALLEDOUT MUSIC REBLAH
NOMINEES MUSIC VIDEO
MEDIA PLATFORM OF THE YEAR GOD TV TBN UK GOSPEL HYDRATION PREMIER PRAISE UCB 2 ‘I HOPE IT NEVER ENDS’ Paradise Now ‘GOD’S BEST’ Shan Ako ‘FAITH’ Soulbox ‘AMBER’ 678NATH ft. Oz Or O ‘WALK WITH ME (OTIS’ DREAM)’ Common Hymnal ft. Junior Garr, Niiella, Sharon Irving and Chris Blue
NOMINEES
OF THE YEAR
INTERNATIONAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR
NOMINEES NOMINEES
INTERNATIONAL DUO / GROUP OF THE YEAR
MAVERICK CITY MUSIC ISRAEL & NEW BREED FOR KING & COUNTRY ELEVATION WORSHIP JONNY X MALI
PASTOR MIKE JR LIMOBLAZE DUNSIN OYEKAN PHIL WICKHAM NAOMI RAINE
