Virgin Islands Sees Heavy Representation at 3rd Annual Caribbean Music Awards

(St. Thomas, September 12, 2025). The third annual Caribbean Music Awards took place in Brooklyn on August 28 and aired on BET two weeks later on September 12. People from the entire Caribbean diaspora came out to support the region’s top talent in what was an incredible night for the market. While there were a lot of nominees from Caribbean countries such as Jamaica or Trinidad, the Virgin Islands did make their presence felt.

This year the Virgin Islands had eight nominees across different categories, three of which were nominated for Best New Soca Artist, including UVI’s own communication major, Hunter Simpson.

Other nominees in that category were Star Martin and Th3rd. This is a true testament to how VI artists are impacting the current landscape of the genre and it displays where USVI could go as a territory.

Having four artists be nominated for an “artist of the year” category is no small feat and highlights the level of talent that is coming out of the VI right now.

Pressure Busspipe and Moneá both received two nominations, including Best Artist in their respective genres; Reggae for Pressure and Caribbean R&B for Moneá. Cruziano was also nominated for Best Artist in the Latin-Caribbean category and Five Two was up for the Caribbean Fusion Artist of the Year.

Pumpa, who is perhaps the biggest name in soca to come out of the VI right now, was nominated for Best Soca Performer. Though he didn’t take the crown this year, he did win this award last year, which was a massive accomplishment for the VI.

STAR MARTIN

Dennis Liburd (born December 10, 1986), better known by his stage name Pumpa, is a Virgin Islands soca artist from St. Kitts.

While there weren’t any artists to take home a win this year, it’s important to remember that they were still there and representing the VI.

To have eight nominees from a territory this small is remarkable, especially considering the multiple millions of people in Trinidad and Jamaica. Hopefully other young artists in the territory can see that being nominated for a prestigious award in a respected something like this is very possible, and I hope that they continue pushing and striving to be the best they can be.