1st Annual Waco Awards Puts Spotlight on Local Artists and Entrepreneurs

On Saturday evening, the first ever Waco Awards show took place at the Hippodrome in downtown Waco.

Long before Chip and Joanna Gaines, artists in Waco have been working to bring a positive message to the community. For the first time, the Waco Awards put local artists and entrepreneurs in the spotlight and gave them a platform to spread hope and positivity for those in the city with the same aspirations.

From October 15th through the 23rd, the community was able to enter their own custom nominations for each of the 28 categories. On November 4th, the final nominations were chosen, and voting began. All votes were kept anonymous, and the community was able to vote once in each category every 24 hours.

Waco Award Categories:

• Album of the Decade
• Album of the Year
• Barber of the Year
• Barbershop of the Year
• Best Cypher Verse of All-Time
• Best Night Club
• Clothing Brand of the Year
• Comedian of the Year
• DJ of the Year
• Entrepreneur of the Year
• Female Hip-Hop Artist of the Year
• Female R&B Artist of the Year
• Hair/ Beauty Salon of the Year
• Hair Stylist of the Year
• Lyricist of the Year
• Make Up Artist of the Year
• Male Hip Hop Artist of the Year
• Male R&B Artist of the Year
• Mix-tape of the Year
• Music Artist of the Decade
• Music Video of the Year
• Nail Tech of the Year
• New Music Artist of the Year
• Producer of the Year
• Song of the Decade
• Song of the Year
• Trail-ride group of the Year
• Videographer of the Year

The event kicked off at 6 pm, and there wasn't an empty seat in the house. The show was described as a red carpet event, and everyone was dressed to impress. Upon walking in the theater you could choose to grab a drink from the cash bar, or even visit the concessions for a snack.

The show even had live performances from some of the nominees, as well as from those who weren't nominated. Now, I've been around the Waco music scene since 2014, and I have to admit that the thought of an awards show in Waco sounded questionable. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see how great everything turned out.

I felt nothing but love and support from everyone in the room, and it was an amazing feeling to see the city come together.