The man­age­ment of the SAO So­ca Awards Ltd/So­ca Awards Or­gan­i­sa­tion, Inc (SAO) has an­nounced the nom­i­nees for the 12th an­nu­al In­ter­na­tion­al So­ca & Chut­ney Awards (iSC) cer­e­mo­ny and the launch of the new-look web­site www.so­caawards.comThe event is be­ing pro­mot­ed in the USA and around the world as "the pre­mier So­ca event in the heart of the Labour Day cel­e­bra­tions in New York."

This year iSC Awards will be fea­tur­ing 15 cat­e­gories high­light­ing some of the Caribbean greats. Every­one has a chance to cast their votes, un­til Sep­tem­ber 4, for their favourites in each cat­e­go­ry. Log on to the of­fi­cial web­site www.so­caawards.com for fur­ther in­for­ma­tion.

As ex­pect­ed, the com­pe­ti­tion is keen in the So­ca Song of the Year cat­e­go­ry, with T&T artistes get­ting two nom­i­na­tions against Bar­ba­dos (two); Grena­da and An­tigua (one each).

The T&T songs and their singers are Like Ah Boss (Machel Mon­tano) and Ola (Olatun­ji Year­wood). The oth­er nom­i­nees are Ah Feel­in' Ah Feel­in' (Lead Pipe & Sadist–Bar­ba­dos); Duck­ing (Fad­da Fox–Bar­ba­dos); Vagabond (Ri­car­do Drue–An­tigua): and Soak it Good (Skin­ny Ban­ton–Grena­da). Con­tenders in the Male So­ca Chut­ney Artiste of the Year are Ray­mond Ram­nar­ine, Ravi B and KI (T&T), and Ter­ry Gajraj and Mys­tic (Guyana). A sur­prise omis­sion in this cat­e­go­ry is mul­ti­ple T&T Na­tion­al Chut­ney So­ca monarch Rik­ki Jai.

nom­i­nees

SAO So­ca Awards Ltd/So­ca Awards Nom­i­nees:

For record­ings re­leased dur­ing May 1, 2014 through April 30, 2015

1–Fe­male So­ca Artiste of the Year

De­stra (T&T)

Fay-Ann Lyons (T&T)

Al­i­son Hinds (Bar­ba­dos)

Na­dia Bat­son (T&T)

Imani (Bar­ba­dos)

Va­lene (Grena­da)

2–Male So­ca Artiste of the Year

Fad­da Fox (Bar­ba­dos)

Lyrikal (T&T)

Machel Mon­tano (T&T)

Olatun­ji (T&T)

Ric­car­do Drue (An­tigua)

Lead Pipe & Sadist (Bar­ba­dos)

3–Best So­ca Com­pi­la­tion Rhythm of the Year

Pa­trol Rid­dim (Pro­duced by Don Iko / Mar­t­ian Mu­sic) T&T

Flair Skirt Rid­dim (Mr Rootz for Wiz records) Grena­da

Jam Band Rid­dim (Pre­ci­sion Pro­duc­tions) T&T

Horn Child Rid­dim (Mr Rootz for Wiz records) Grena­da

Kan Kan Rid­dim (Pro­duced by Ad­voK­it Pro­duc­tions) T&T

4–In­ter­na­tion­al So­ca DJ of the Year

Back 2 Ba­sics (New York)

Pri­vate Ryan (TnT)

DJ Stephen (Los An­ge­les)

Eter­nal Vibes (Mi­a­mi)

Dr Jay (Cana­da)

DJ Spice (New York)

5–So­ca Song of the Year

Lead Pipe & Sadist–Ah Feel­ing Ah Feel­ing (Bar­ba­dos)

Fad­da Fox–Duck­ing (Bar­ba­dos)

Ric­car­do Drue–Vagabond (An­tigua)

Skin­ny Ban­ton–Soak It Good (Grena­da)

Machel Mon­tano–Like Ah Boss (T&T)

Olatun­ji–Ola (T&T)

SAO so­ca awards ltd/so­ca awards nom­i­nees (cont'd)

6–So­ca Writer of the Year

Sekon Sta–The Best, Great Day, Max­i­mum (T&T)

Lead Pipe & Sadist–Ah Feel­ing Ah Feel­ing, Con­dense, Ben Up (Bar­ba­dos)

Na­dia Bat­son–Cool­er Fete, Loosen De Chain, Pop Ah Bot­tle (T&T)

Ja­son 'Shaft' Bish­op–My House, Lucy, Duck­ing (T&T)

Ker­win Du Bois–No Apol­o­gy, Cir­cles, Mag­net­ic (T&T)

7–So­ca Chut­ney

Song of the Year

Ravi B–Du­lahin (T&T)

KI–No Gyal (T&T)

Mys­tic–Coolie Bai (Guyana)

Ter­ry Gajraj–Cyah Make It (Guyana)

Artie Butkoon–Friend Zone (T&T)

8–Fe­male So­ca Chut­ney Artiste of the Year

Sal­ly Sagram (T&T)

Artie Butkoon (T&T)

Kavi­ta Ma­haraj (T&T)

Nisha B (T&T)

Sassy Ra­moutar (T&T)

9–Best So­ca Chut­ney

Mu­sic Video

Mys­tic–Coolie Bai (Dir by Tony Tone–A Fash­ions for Renu Pro­duc­tion) (Guyana)

Ravi B–Du­lahin (Dir by Dori Pro­duc­tions) T&T

So­ca Elvis & Ter­ry Seales–Ju­ma­tee (Dir by Big Dawg Records) T&T

Show­time ft Ray­mond–Heavy Drinkah (Dir by Denithy) T&T

Anil Bheem–Trinidad (Dir by Sr Dig­i­tal Con­cepts) T&T

Chef Ja­son–Bub­ble With Me (Dir by Dori Pro­duc­tions) T&T

10–Male So­ca Chut­ney Artiste of the Year

Ter­ry Gajraj (Guyana)

Ray­mond Ram­nar­ine (T&T)

Ravi B (T&T)

Mys­tic (Guyana)

KI (T&T)

11–USA So­ca Artiste

of the Year (Spe­cial)

An­gela Hunte

Lyrikal

Ray­zor

Yan­kee Boy

Leonce

12–Best So­ca Mu­sic

Video of the Year

Fad­da Fox–Duck­ing (Dir by Jonathan Reid and Dwayne Thomas for Spec­trum) Bar­ba­dos

Ri­car­do Drue–Vagabond (Dir by Avant me­dia) An­tigua

Preedy–Away (Dir by Dwain DJ John­son) T&T

Farmer Nap­py–My House (Dir by Ka­t­ri­na Chan­dler & Lee De­signs Ltd) T&T

An­gela Hunte and Machel Mon­tano–Par­ty Done (Dir by Jerome Guiot) T&T

Ben­jai–Phe­nom­e­nal (Dir By MIL­Cvi­sion) T&T

13–So­ca Duo or Group

of the Year

Lead Pipe & Sadist–Ah Feel­ing Ah Feel­ing (Bar­ba­dos)

3 Canal–Raw (T&T)

Lu­ni Sparks & Elec­tri­fy–No Mer­cy (Grena­da)

14–Young So­ca Artiste

of the Year

Jeromy Ro­driguez (T&T)

Young De­vyn (New York)

Aaron Dun­can (T&T)

15–Chut­ney So­ca Band

of the Year

Dil E Nadan (T&T)

Mel­lobugz (T&T)

Gay­a­tones (T&T)

Kar­ma (T&T)

3Veni (T&T)