Manitoban artists continue to impact Christian music and are leading the charge into next month's GMA Covenant Awards with 45 nominations.

A total of 13 artists are nominated across a variety of categories, from rap to instrumental and everywhere in between. The GMA Covenant Awards are Canada's highest honour in Christian music.

Niverville's Jordan St. Cyr continues to see a seemingly meteoric rise in his career, receiving 11 nominations this year. However, his recent success comes after years of hard work and remaining faithful to proclaiming the good news of Jesus through music even when his own life is faced with difficulties. It was just four years ago that he shared his desire to start touring in the USA more and hoped to break into radio market south of the border. And, he's done just that in a powerful way.

St. Cyr recently received two nominations in the GMA Dove Awards, often called the "Christian Grammy's." Earlier this year he hit No. 1 on two different Billboard music charts. His nominations include album of the year, artist of the year, and two nominations in adult contemporary song of the year for "Weary Traveler" and "Fires."

Legendary singer-songwriter Steve Bell also continues to attract plenty of attention, and received seven nominations this year. His latest album, Wouldn't You Love To Know, earned an album of the year nomination, and he was also nomionated for artist of the year. The album is Bell's 22nd and also includes a book of the same name.

The Color helped push Manitoban artists into the majority for nominations in both the album of the year and artist of the year categories. No Greater Love earned them a nod for album of the year, and they've not only been nominated for artist of the year, but also group of the year, and pop artist of the year. The southern Manitoba band recently won their second Juno award, this time for Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album earlier this year.

Jake Fretz, a worship pastor at Prairie Alliance Church in Portage la Prairie, also managed to wrack up four nominations. While he's been writing music for worship for 20 years, the artist just recently began to focus again on releasing that music for a wider audience. He is nominated for breakthrough artist of the year among his other nominations.

Jaylene Johnson also continues to impact worship music despite losing her singing voice. She helps other artists find the voice of their songs and has gained three nominations for songs she's co-written, including Brant Pethick's "Hope" which was nominated for pop song of the year. Johnson has been instrumental in guiding many new artists, including Jordan St. Cyr who credits Johnson with helping him get connected in Nashville. Johnson currently serves as Vice President of GMA Canada and has been working to better connect Canadian Christian artists.

Manitoban artists nominated and the number of nominations

All categories and nominations

Album of the Year

Jordan St. Cyr - Jordan St. Cyr

No Greater Love - The Color

Wouldn't You Love to Know? - Steve Bell

Devotion - Live  - Movement Worship

I'm Listening - Alisha Eich 

 

Artist of the Year

Jordan St. Cyr

The Color

Steve Bell

Jon Buller

Marika Siewert

 
Musical Collaboration of the Year

Still - Brooke Nicholls, Movement Worship

Hope (feat. Chelsea Amber) - Brant Pethick, Chelsea Amber

Let The World Sing - Tehillah Worship & Marika Siewert

215 - Brian Doerksen, Cheryl Bear, Steve Bell, Carolyn Arends, Marika Siewert, Carly Reirson, Brenda Janz, Philip Janz, Brian Thiessen, Loralee Thiessen, Samuel Thiessen, Teresa Trask 

Jesus - Kimberly Ade, Daniel Ojo and Michael Manhertz

 

Female Vocalist of the Year

Chelsea Amber

Brooke Nicholls

Marika Siewert

Carolyn Arends

Jennifer Lewin

 

Male Vocalist of the Year

Jordan St. Cyr

Steve Bell

Jon Buller

K-Anthony

Jon Slater

 

Breakthrough Artist of the Year

Movement Worship

Rachelle Luk

Jake Fretz

Damara Melissa

Marika Siewert

 

Producer of the Year

Steve Lensink

Steve Wingfield

Murray Pulver

Odum Abekah

Eli Bennett

 

Canadian Christian Song of the Year

Brant Pethick, Jaylene Johnson, Arun Chaturvedi - Hope (feat. Chelsea Amber)

Andrew Marcus - Abide In Me

Jake Fretz - Here Comes The Kingdom

Elenee - Good to Me (feat. Ricardo Hatfield

Darren Hamilton - Not Powerless (Pray)
 

Video of the Year

Rhonda Louise - Brave Girl

Manic Drive - Thank God I'm Alive

Steve Bell - In Memoriam

Jennifer Lewin - Stay With Us

Waterloo Region Mass Choir - Not Powerless (Pray) 

 

Live Music Artist of the Year - Online or Concert

Steve Bell

Jordan St. Cyr

Chelsea Amber

Manic Drive

Rosemary Siemens



Group of the Year

Kevin Adams & Voices of Praise

Manic Drive

The Color

 

Adult Contemporary Artist of the Year

Rachelle Luk

Marika Siewert

Jordan St. Cyr

Carolyn Arends

Stephanie Reddicopp 
 

Children's Artist of the Year

Elevate Kids Choir

Sandy Baldwin

Q-Town

KiDs Worship

Norine Gallimore

 

Country Artist of the Year

The Fehr Family Band

Jeff Catto

Martine Kelsey

 

Folk Artist of the Year

Rob Berg

Steve Bell

Carolyn Arends

The Fehr Family Band

 

Gospel Artist of the Year

Powerhouse Fellowship Soul Choir featuring Shawn Cotterell

Yemisi Ogunjimi

Jennifer LEWIN

Kevin Adams & Voices of Praise

Folarin and Keziah
 

Instrumental Artist of the Year

Jonathan Wong

SaxAndViolin (Eli Bennett & Rosemary Siemens)

Steve Wingfield

Sean Spicer

Johnny Summers

 

Jazz or Blues Artist of the Year

Yeshua Cornejo

Nancy Bodsworth

Earl MacDonald

Johnny Summers

Katrina Van Humbeck
 

Pop Artist of the Year

Brant Pethick

Jordan St. Cyr

Manic Drive

The Color

DJC2
 

Rap Artist of the Year

One8tea

DJC2

Messanjah

Jordan Barr

Jachin Israelson
 

Rock Artist of the Year

All Above Me

Manic Drive

The 8th Line
 

Worship Artist of the Year

Jennifer LEWIN

Brooke Nicholls

Movement Worship

Jon Buller

Mike Janzen
 

Adult Contemporary Song of the Year

O My Soul - Rachelle Luk

To Cry for You - Carolyn Arends

Weary Traveler - Jordan St. Cyr, Matthew West, AJ Pruis

Fires - Jordan St. Cyr, Krissy Nordhoff and Micah Kuiper

Abide In Me - Andrew Marcus 

 

Country Song of the Year

Walk on the Water - D. Bruce Moore

Always - Martine Kelsey

Dangerous With Your Love - Jeff Catto, Jonathan Turner, Josh Fata

The Greatest Gift - Nancy Bodsworth
 

Folk Song of the Year

Lifespan - Rachelle Luk

Remembers Me - Mike Janzen

Without Music - Carolyn Arends

Follow You - Terry Posthumus

I'll Always Be With You - Rosemary Siemens, Troy Samson

 

Gospel Song of the Year

True On The Outside - Rachelle Luk

FREE - Kevin Anthony Fowler and Kevin Winebarger

For your Glory - Claire Odogbo, Jonathan Turner

Only You - Yemisi Ogunjimi

I'm Not Alone - Suanesha Laing, Kennedy Obioha, Ayomide Oso
 

Pop Song of the Year

Call Of The Wild - Jordan Janzen, James Shiels, Carter Frodge, Taylor Agan

Good to Me - Elenee Young

Fires - Jordan St. Cyr, Krissy Nordhoff and Micah Kuiper

Weary Traveler - Jordan St. Cyr, Matthew West, AJ Pruis

Hope - Brant Pethick, Jaylene Johnson, Arun Chaturvedi
 

Rap Song of the Year

Still Standing Here - Kevin Manness

Reconciliation - Jordan Barr

The Wind and the Waves - Robert Wilson, David Farnsworth, Blessingtone Malinga,

I Guess It's Complicated - Teah Bailey

You Are - Robert Wilson
 

Rock Song of the Year

Light It Up - Russ Smith, Rick Colhoun

The Show Must Go - Guiller Contreras

You Can't Stop This - Russ Smith, Rick Colhoun

He Is Our God - Terry Posthumus

Wouldn't Let Me Go - Michael Boucher
 

Seasonal Song of the Year

Emmanuel God With Us - Jake Fretz

Just Before The Silent Night - Brian Doerksen, Jaylene Johnson

Our Saviour Has Come - Allen Froese

Christmas Is Here - Marika Siewert, Zoey Siewert, Lilah Fitzgerald

Saviour Of The World - Terry Posthumus
 

Worship Song of the Year

Even Now - Rachelle Luk

Abounding in Love - Mike Janzen

Here And Now - Jon Slater, Chris Serna

Take All Of Me - Andrew Marcus

Still - Brooke Nicholls, Jon Slater

Here Comes the Kingdom - Jake Fretz