The 37th Wammie Music Awards are being hosted this Saturday with the goal to recognize and honor the best musical voices in the D.C. region.
There’s no one singular sound that solely defines the District, and that’s proven year after year at the Wammie Music Awards.
The 37th Wammie Music Awards are being hosted this Saturday with the goal to recognize and honor the best musical voices in the D.C. region.
The award show was originally launched by the now-defunct Washington Area Museum Association. The MusicianShip, an organization that provides free music education for youths in the D.C. metropolitan region and beyond, acquired the Wammies in 2018 and has continued the tradition ever since.
Recent past winners have included up-and-coming artists like Rico Nasty (2019 Best Rap Artist/Group and 2019 Best Rap Album), Ari Lennox (2023 Best R&B/Soul Album), Oh He Dead (2024 Best Pop Artist-Group and 2024 Best Pop Album) as well as local legends like Rare Essence and Junkyard Band.
“From a Wammie to a Grammy, we do like to say that sometimes, because this is sometimes the first step for a lot of musicians,” Dana Nearing, director of operations at The MusicianShip and executive producer for the Wammie Music Awards, told WTOP.
One example of this trajectory is Mýa, who was the recipient and nominee for several Wammie Music Awards from 1998 and beyond before accepting the Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals at the 44th Grammy Awards in 2002 for “Lady Marmalade.”
There are over 80 music industry professionals who make up a panel of judges who score the winners of each Wammie award. This year, there are approximately 50 categories, which garnered over 900 individual nominations.
“The sound of the DMV is really the sound of the world,” Nearing said. “The music here is influenced by sounds from all over the world, and it’s just so beautiful to see and to hear.”
As part of the award show, The MusicianShip also hosts a weeklong series of free educational events for local adults and youth. This year’s Wammie Education Week explored pathways to music entrepreneurship with networking, panels, workshops and other opportunities.
“I firmly believe that the Wammies has survived because this community needs it and wants it,” Nearing said. “We are the only platform that is of this magnitude who can celebrate and award and honor the music and the art that is happening here in the DMV.”
“To win a Wammie, it’s not just winning an award. That award represents having support and encouragement from the community you come from — and I think that’s incredibly uplifting,” he added.
The Wammie Music Awards announce the winners this Saturday at Capital Turnaround in Southeast D.C. General admission tickets cost $50 per person.
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