ION INDIE MAGAZINE September 2016, Volume 28 | Page 43

During the red carpet arrivals, a reception and mixer was the perfect opportunity for nominees, performers,
musicians, and industry professionals to "meet and greet", and swap stories. The opening speech for the
show by Executive Producer, Omar McCallop, was on point and perfectly timed when he so eloquently said,
“In today's world of unrest, hatred, violence and division, music is one of the very few things that brings us
together as people. As I look around the room, I see all different kinds of race and color, from all different
genres of music; all here for one reason…for the love of music and for what they do in their craft--and to
support each other as brothers and sisters."
As a photojournalist for ION covering the event, undoubtedly the highlights of the night for me were having
the honor of being asked to accept the award for “Female Rock Artist of The Year” for Lauren Nicole (who
was home getting over pneumonia and couldn't be there) and seeing my friends in the band The Reason You
Stayed from Charlotte, win “Rock Band of The Year”.
The complete list of the 2016 Carolina Music Awards Winners is as follows:
Hip Hop Male - Jackie Spade
Best New Artist - OC from NC
Hip Hop Female - Mosca Flux
Hip Hop Group - Free The Optimus
R&B Male - Quentin Rashad
R&B Female - J Safina
Rock Male - Drake Murphy
Rock Female - Lauren Nicole
Rock Band/Group - The Reason You Stayed
Country Male - Darrell Harwood
Country Female - Faith Bardill
Country Band/Group - Louis Waymore
Americana / Bluegrass - Henry River Honey
Model - Janetlys Rodriguez
Producer - Raymond Maxwell
Video Hip Hop /R&B - Love is a Lie - Cody Daniel
Video Rock /Country - The Only Guy - Tiffany Ashton
Youth - Marye Amanda
Youth Video - Abby Stephens - Best Day Ever
DJ - DJ Wade Banner

Story and Photos by Gary Carota and Gary Carota Images,
exclusively for ION Indie Magazine and The 2016 Carolina Music Awards.

www.CarolinaMusicAwards.com