Nassau, Bahamas (June 9^th 2008):The official nominations for the 2008 Marlin Awards were announced on Friday May 30^th during a special Marlin Nomination concert held at the Diplomat Center in Nassau, Bahamas. This highly anticipated event was hosted by Jamie Thomas of Tempo’s Rise & Shine gospel TV show and featured show stopping performances from Heath Fowler & The Final Hour Mass Choir, The Rahming Brothers, Platinum Souljahz, Alas, Christian Massive, Charles Drake and CMA, Manifest, Simeon Outten, DJ Counsellor and Demetrius Stubbs. The three hour long event ended with a pulsating performance from gospel Soca sensation Nigel Lewis who brought the house to its feet with his radio hits ‘He Is”, “Naked You Come, Naked You Go” and a sanctified version of his older hit “Follow the Leader”..

Lion of Judah CEO Ramont “Monty G” Green emerged as this years Marlin Awards top nominee with a whopping eleven (11) nominations including one for Song of the Year (Live in Love) and Album of the Year (Along Life’s Road). As a solo artist Monty received eight (8) nominations and earned an additional three (3) for this involvement as leader and member of the Lion’s Pride. However close behind with an impressive ten (10) nominations is Jamaican gospel dancehall artist Calvin Whilby aka The Prodigal Son who managed to bounce back hard this year with a Dannie Brownie produced double disc opus, “Songs from My Midnight-The Break of Day” to gain a sizeable amount of nominations after a disappointing showing during the 2006 Marlin Awards. Prodigal managed to secure nominations in just about every reggae or dancehall category and also earned a spot on the Album of the Year and Song of the Year nomination lists for his international smash “Ketch A Fire” which features his brother Jason Mighty. .

Bahamian reggae outfit Christian Massive snagged the third spot with a total of nine (9) nominations including Junkanoo Recording of the Year (Create), Soca Recording of the Year (Rag Flag) and one for Album of the Year (Di Hook). Considered one of Trinidad’s top gospel artists Isaac Blackman emerged with a total of seven (7) nominations including New Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Music Video of the Year (Solo) for his global anthem “To the Ceiling”, which dominated the music video charts for several weeks on the regions’ premier music channel, Tempo.

Five (5) artists secured seven (7) nominations each including Bahamian male vocal sensation Vision, whose first full length CD”Introspection” was nominated for Album of the Year. The group was also nominated for Music Video of the Year (Duo/Group) for their single “Brand New World” which was written and originally recorded by world renowned speaker and author Dr. Myles Munroe. Also walking away with seven (7) nominations is female reggae artist Kristine Alicia who was successful in being nominated in a number of key categories including New Artist of the Year, Music Video of the Year (Solo) and Album of the Year for her debut disc “Get Ready”. Past Marlin winner Marvia Providence who now resides in Canada also received seven (7) nominations including Calypso/Soca Vocal Performance of the Year (Female) and one in the newly introduced “Live CD Recording of the Year” category for her latest project “Thank You”. Gospel Soca giant Nigel Lewis also walked away with seven (7) nominations including one for Producer of the Year for his production work on his album (Unlock the Block) and Kristine Alicia’s debut CD “Get Ready”. Lewis who is famed for his earlier secular Soca hits like “Follow the Leader” and “Moving to the Left” was also nominated for Song of the Year for his smash “He Is”.

Rounding out the list with seven (7) nominations as well is the all male urban machinery known as Four Kornerz, a group of four brothers who hail originally from Africa but now call London home. The groups debut disc “Soulectric” was nominated in the Album of the Year and Engineered Recording of the Year categories with their R&B laced dance single “Gonna Make It” clearing the way for nominations in the New Artist of the Year and the Contemporary Recording and Pop/Rock Recording of the Year categories.

Minister Denzcil Rolle & COGIBINC Mass Youth Choir and Bishop Neil C.Ellis Presents the Mount Tabor Praise & Worship Ministry each secured six (6) nominations. The Mount Tabor Praise & Worship Ministry is a member of the International Full Gospel group of churches which is lead by Bishop Paul.S Morton who is featured on the single “Don’t Do It without Me”, nominated this year in the Praise & Worship Recording of the Year category. Also hitting the six (6) nomination mark is up & coming male reggae singer Troy Anthony who hails from Bermuda. Troy’s debut disc “Rise Up” opened the door for nominations in the New Artist of the Year, Reggae Recording of the Year (Rise Up) and the newly established Culture Recording of the Year category for his single “Trample” featuring Bahamian reggae artist Reubin Heights.

2006 Producer of the Year award winner Stitchie received five (5) nominations including Song of the Year, Dancehall Recording of the Year and Dee-Jay Vocal Performance of the Year (Solo) all for his fast spitting hit single “Lord Almighty”. Stitchie was also successful in being nominated for Album of the Year and Packaging of their Year for Real Life Story, the follow up disc to his multi-award winning album “Kingdom Ambassador” which earned him a total of four Marlin Awards, the highest amount presented in 2006.

Gotee Records recording artist Ayiesha was nominated for four (4) awards including Pop/Rock Recording, Contemporary Vocal Female and Song of the Year for her hit single “Happy”. Ayiesha along with Gotee Records CEO and former DC Talk front man Toby Mac also received a nomination for International Collaboration of the Year for their power rock single “Big Enough”. This will Mark the first Marlin Award nomination for Toby Mac. Ayiesha won several Marlins in 2004 including Producer of the Year, the first for any female artist and she was also nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007.

Also scoring two nominations in the International Collaboration of the Year category is US based reggae band Christafari whose principal vocalist & chief songwriter is Mark Mohr, CEO of gospelreggae.com, the world’s largest distributor of Gospel reggae music. Mark & Co was nominated along with Imisi for the single “Forward” and for “Triumphal Entry “featuring Sherwin Gardner & Mr. Lynx.

Awards will be presented in over fifty categories including Song and Album of the Year during the 2008 Caribbean Gospel Music Marlin Awards which are scheduled to be held on Sunday October 26th, 2008 in Nassau, Bahamas. The Marlin Awards will be held during Marlin Weekend 2008 which will also feature Marlin Summit and Workshops as well as the Caribbean Gospel Music Marlin Fest. All events will be held October 23-26 2008 in Nassau, Bahamas. For additional information contact Harris Communications at 242- 327-1251 or email them at marlinawards@gmail.com or visit them online at www.marlinawards.com or www.myspace.com/marlinawards.