This year, the Singing News Fan Awards was different from the others. The difference comes from various reasons. Number one is definitely the Fan Awards’ venue change (Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, TN). Second, the mood was subdued due to Tuesday’s passing of Tony Greene. Third, there was some changing of the old regime in the winning of the awards. So, as you can tell, those three reasons alone made the 2010 fan awards an exceptional year. Most of the award winners stayed the same as the winners of last year’s awards. Of course, the awards that had to change certainly did with some improvement and/or surprise.
For instance, Morgan Easter took home the “Horizon Individual” award. Last night was a list of firsts or rare occurrences for Morgan. She became the youngest to win an individual award (age: 16), first female Horizon Individual winner since 1993, and beat all odds since she was the only female nominee. Considering that Southern Gospel hasn’t seen that type of winning for many years, it was a successful night for Morgan because she truly beat all odds for winning the award.
Another surprise was Brooklyn Collingsworth’s win for the “Young Artist” award. Surprisingly, the winner of the “Young Artist” award has been a male for 18 of the 23 years they’ve had the award. Previous winners are Kim Greene Hopper and Lauren Talley. In addition to the break in the male wins, normally the winner is someone who is near the age limit, 25 years of age. Brooklyn just turned 21 in August and is actually the fourth oldest of the five nominees. For her to beat the odds regarding age, her winning of this award only proves the fans deep appreciation for the Brooklyn & Collingsworth Family.
More than the artists’ wins, fans were able to experience the acceptance speeches. Most noted was Karlye Hopper’s acceptance speeches for her mother for both Favorite Soprano & Favorite Female Vocalist. In her first acceptance (Favorite Soprano), she dedicated the award to her Uncle Tony and talked of how proud he was of Kim and her accomplishments. With her second acceptance (Favorite Female Vocalist), Karlye ended the speech by “thanking the Lord for the things He gives us and the things He takes away.” Her acceptance speeches were full of great tribute to her uncle which I’m sure Kim wouldn’t have said any differently.
Another acceptance speech of note was Libbi Perry Stuffle’s for Favorite Alto. As she stated, God had to have known how much their ministry would touch lives before they were born. Her explanation was that her parents didn’t have singing voices, yet she and her siblings were given them. The Perrys performed at an event Wednesday morning with Dr. Charles Stanley. Libbi mentioned how he stated that we don’t need to be a taker as much as we need to be a giver. Libbi’s clear statement of her devotion to the Gospel was evident in her proclamation of being a giver of the Message rather than a taker of the rewards.
There were several other highlights of the evening including Jan Buckner Goff, Connie Hopper, and Danny Gaither’s SGMA Hall of Fame Inductions. The strongest single performance of the night clearly goes to the “Song of the Year”, “If You Knew Him.” From what I saw on the video feed, the group received a standing ovation after performing the song as well as a standing ovation when “If You Knew Him” was announced as “Favorite Song.” Congratulations to all winners & nominees as well as the SGMA Inductees! I’m definitely looking forward to another great year of Southern Gospel music in the Fan Awards!
