Manitoba Artists Strong Contenders for 37th Annual Covenant Awards

Manitoba artists are strong contenders for this year’s Covenant Awards. Nominees for the 37th annual awards were announced this month, including multiple nods for Steve Bell, The Color, and Fresh IE.

Bell continues to gather accolades for his multi-disc, 25th anniversary release, Pilgrimage. The Bell and his work picked up seven nominations, including Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Producer of the Year (with Murray Pulver and Dave Zeglinski, who also share a recent Canadian Folk Music Award nomination with Bell), Song of the Year, Folk Album of the Year, and Seasonal Song of the Year. Bell is also up for Spiritual Album of the Year at the upcoming Western Canadian Music Awards. 

Fresh IE -- aka Grammy-nominated rapper, songwriter, and producer Robert Wilson -- is also up for seven Covenant nods, including Artist of the Year, Recorded Song of the Year, Rap Album of the Year, Collaboration of the Year (with Paul Brandt, The Color, Cynthia Hamar, The City Harmonic, Fraser Campbell, Tasman Jude, Scribe, Cote, One8Tea, Tuzil, Jon Loeppky, and Matt Gilman), Urban Song of the Year, and two Rap Song of the Year noms. 

Pop rock outfit The Color is a double nominee this year, for Group of the Year and Pop Song of the Year. Currently on tour in BC, the Winkler-based band released its latest album, Eyes Wide Open, in March. The five-song EP was produced by Rusty Varenkamp (Tenth Avenue North, Sanctus Real, Building 429).

Former Manitoban artists Tim Neufeld and Drew Brown also stand to bring home some Covenant Awards this year. 

For a complete list of this year's Covenant Award nominees, please visit gmacanada.ca/covenant-awards-nominees

COVENANT AWARD NOMINEES - MANITOBA NOMINEES

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Steve Bell - Pilgrimage

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Steve Bell
Fresh IE

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Steve Bell

GROUP OF THE YEAR
The Color

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
Murray Pulver, Dave Zeglinski, Steve Bell

SONG OF THE YEAR
Steve Bell - Turn It Around (Songwriter: Steve Bell)

RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR
Fresh IE - "Broken Veil"   

COLLABORATION OF THE YEAR
Fresh IE with Paul Brandt, The Color, Cynthia Hamar, The City Harmonic, Fraser Campbell, Tasman Jude, Scribe, Cote, One8Tea, Tuzil, Jon Loeppky and Matt Gilman - Collide: City of Worship 2

FOLK ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Steve Bell - Pilgrimage   

POP SONG OF THE YEAR
The Color - "One Sure Thing" (Songwriters: Tony Wood, Rusty Varenkamp, James Shiels & Jordan Janzen)

RAP ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Fresh IE - Collide: City of Worship 2   

FOLK SONG OF THE YEAR
"Big Mistake" (Songwriters: Steve Bell & Malcolm Guite)

RAP SONG OF THE YEAR
"Enter In" (Songwriter: Robert Wilson)
"Broken Veil" (Songwriters: Robert Wilson, Elias Dummer, Eric Fusilier, Aaron Powell & Josh Vanderlaan)

SEASONAL SONG OF THE YEAR
"Lenten Lands" (Songwriters: Steve Bell & Malcolm Guite)

URBAN SONG OF THE YEAR
"Still This Child" (Songwriters: Patrick Prosper Laguerre & Robert Wilson)