KC Wallace Whitfield and Charles Drake & the CMA Ensemble perform their award winning songs at the Cacique Awards in 2009.

Nassau, Bahamas - The People’s Choice Music Award, a highly-anticipated category of the Cacique Awards, is on track for record-breaking participation from the public, Ministry of Tourism & Aviation officials revealed.

The 14^th Cacique Awards, scheduled for January 28, 2010, will honor the most outstanding performers in various fields that contribute to the Bahamian tourism product.  As usual, they will also recognize the most outstanding music entertainers through the People’s Choice Music Award.

This year, the finalists for the People’s Choice Music Award for gospel and secular music will be determined by public voting.  A panel of judges will then select the winning songs from the finalists, which will be the three gospel songs and three secular songs that receive the highest number of votes.

This year’s voting began at an incredible pace, said Bonnie Rolle, senior manager of Onshore Communications in the Ministry of Tourism & Aviation.  Already, more than 800 votes have been registered in the first week of voting.  This compares with more than 1,600 votes for the three weeks of voting in the last award year, she said.

“If the voting continues at this pace, we will far exceed public participation in this award category for any previous year,” Ms. Rolle said. “This is a clear indication that the public is very interested in Bahamian music and they look forward to supporting their favorite artists through the People’s Choice Music Award.”

The public is able to see all the nominated songs and artists at www.caciqueawards.com , where they can also vote.  One vote is allowed for the secular category and one for the gospel category.