Warwick artist nominated for Christian music award
Warwick Karen Giammarino is filled with joy and surprise by the news she was nominated for Inspirational Artist of the Year award, a major prize at the Momentum Awards. The Momentum Awards are part of IndieHeaven.com, a site dedicated to the advancement of independent Christian musicians. This set of awards is similar to the People’s Choice awards where the public decides who wins. Giammarino, who is the pianist and junior choir director at Calvary Baptist Church in Warwick, hopes that the community will go to her Web site, www.morningprayermusic.com, listen to some of her inspirational music, and hopefully cast their vote for her. Digital downloads are also available from the site. She started Morning Prayer Music about a decade ago. It is a place to listen to all of the music she has written, view her photos and reflect. Her Morning Prayer album is a collection of her songs, sung by vocalist Donna Marie. Some of her more recent original music, such as “Designed by God,” “Be Still” and “God Bless America” are sung by Sharon Taylor. Giammarino has been writing music and lyrics most of her life. That really revved up around 1995 when she turned to Christian music. “I am so joy-filled with this,” said Giammarino. “I don’t know who nominated me but I am grateful.” And while being nominated is a great honor, actually winning means something too. But it will take a village or town or county to move Giammarino to the next step. The way it works is that all of the nominees in each category are listed on the IndieHeaven Web site. Giammarino has a link to the Web site on her own site. Those wishing to vote for her should go onto her Web site, www.morningprayermusic.com. Just under her picture is a link to the IndieHeaven site. Click on the link. Enter your name and e-mail, scroll down to the Inspirational Artist of the year. Click on the arrow next to it and scroll down to Morning Prayer Music. Click on it. Go to the bottom of the page, enter the security code in the box and click on submit your vote. Voting for the final five nominees goes throughout January. The top five vote-getters will be the finalists. Voting for the winner of the awards runs from Feb. 1 through March 1. The Momentum Awards, which is in its third year, will be presented on March 29 at the CIA (Christian Independent Alliance) Summit in Franklin, Tenn.