Based on online voting, the winners will be honored at an awards banquet from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. March 18 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village's Tropics Showroom. The awards event, which helps raise funds to support music education via scholarships for youths, is one of four major activities this year (see box).

Reichel was cited for best anthology, Shimabukuro for rock album, Kahumoku and Ho for inspirational/gospel album and Trias for pop album.

This year's competition included 32 categories covering a gamut of categories, from jazz to Hawaiian, from slack key to Island contemporary. According to Johnny Kai, who founded the awards, 47,000 visited the website to cast 10,000 votes from dozens of nations from around the world.

The complete list of winners:

• Adult Contemporary — "Back to Hawaii," Stuart Nakai.
• Anthology —  "Kamahiwa," Keali'i Reichel.
• Blues — "Live at the Stopwatch," Chance and the Blues Daddies.
• Children's music — "Surf, Sand & Song," Keiki O Waimanalo.
• Classical — "Fantasies," Grace Nikae.
• Compilation — "Aloha Festivals Falsetto Contest Winners Volume 6," various artists.
• Contemporary Hawaiian — "My Island Paradise," Manny Fernandez.
• Country — "My 9th Island Paniolo Ranch," Danny Estocado.
• DVD — "They Call Her Lady Fingers: Betty Loo Taylor," Sam Polson & Patricia Gillespie.
• Film Score —"Ho'okipa," Ho'okipa.
• Folk — "All The Things I Said," Ray Bumatai.
• Hip Hop — "The Greatest HI," Krystiles featuring Floers.
• Inspirational/Gospel — "Hymns of Hawai'i, Volume 2," George Kahumoku Jr. & Daniel Ho
• Instrumental — "Aloha From Hawaii," Greg and Junko MacDonald.
• International Hawaiian — "The Island of Angels," Anella.
• Island Contemporary — "UnCut," INoA'ole.
• Jazz — "Bass Etude," Nathan Aweau.
• New Age— "Rainforest Piano and Harp," Keith Scott & Amy Heindl.
• Polynesian — "Mama," Mt. Vaea Band.
• Pop — "Jasmine Trias," Jasmine Trias.
• Punk/Ska — "Scary Beast," WMF.
• R&B — "Tha3LOGY," Aziel.
• Rap — "My Life," J-Bird.
• Reggae — "Ekolu Music," Ekolu.
• Rock— "Dragon," Jake Shimabukuro.
• Seasonal — "An Old Fashioned Christmas," Opihi Pickers & Friends
• Single — "Lu'au Cha Cha Cha," Sonya Mendez.
• Slack Key Guitar— "Kiho'alu," Ledward Ka'apana.
• Steel Guitar — "Jerry Byrd: Master of the Steel Guitar," Jerry Byrd.
• Traditional Hawaiian— "He 'Olu," Holunape.
• 'Ukulele — "Hear," Brittni Paiva.
• World Music— "Mutambo!," Mabanzi Marimba.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8067.