{"id":2322725,"date":"2026-03-11T08:23:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T08:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2322725"},"modified":"2026-03-11T08:23:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T08:23:39","slug":"central-new-york-music-community-shines-at-2026-sammys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/central-new-york-music-community-shines-at-2026-sammys\/","title":{"rendered":"Central New York Music Community Shines at 2026 SAMMYS"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Lights shined brightly on the Central New York music community on Friday, March 6 as the 2026 edition of the Syracuse Area Music Awards (SAMMYS) took place at the Palace Theatre in Syracuse. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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London McDaniel and the Plan Z perform at the 2026 Syracuse Area Music Awards.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Launched in 1993, the annual celebration kicked off on March 5 with the Hall of Fame induction dinner at Middle Ages Brewing Company<\/a>.\u00a0 This year\u2019s honorees included Ian Cattell<\/a>, New York Flyers, Don and Dave Martin, Erin Althen (Music Educator of the Year), and the Music Center (Lifetime Achievement). \u00a0<\/p>\n

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Ian Cattell was inducted into the Syracuse Area Music Hall of Fame on March 5.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Friday\u2019s awards ceremony was hosted by local news anchor and longtime community supporter Tim Fox and began with a spirited performance by Brass Inc.\u00a0 The nine-piece horn based band serenaded attendees as they arrived and made their way to their seats, performing classic tracks such as \u201cRosanna\u201d by Toto and \u201cStayin\u2019 Alive\u201d by the Bee Gees. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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PHEN accepts the award for Best Pop at the 2026 SAMMYS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

With attendees now seated, the SAMMYS began to present awards in 21 categories.\u00a0 Among this year\u2019s winners were Cheri Giraud (Best Jazz), Vaporeyes <\/a>(Best Jam Band), PHEN (Best Pop), and Tyjhier <\/a>(Best R&B).\u00a0 The awards were handed out by a slew of celebrity presenters, including Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens, Steven Page (formerly of Barenaked Ladies), and local funk masters Sophistafunk<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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The New York Flyers perform at the 2026 SAMMYS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Between awards, the area\u2019s diverse music scene was on display, with performances by Stephen Douglas Wolfe, London McDaniel and Plan Z, Nate Gross Band, and new Hall of Fame members, the New York Flyers. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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Geoff Herbert accepts the Founder\u2019s Award at the 2026 SAMMYS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Throughout the evening the SAMMYS paid honor to some of the most impactful and influential members of the Syracuse music community.\u00a0 Long time music journalist Geoff Herbert <\/a>received the Founder\u2019s Award, one of the committee\u2019s highest honors.\u00a0 Herbert, known to the music scene as \u201cDeaf Geoff\u201d due to profound hearing loss which occurred at birth, has covered an wide array of music during his time with Syracuse.com<\/a> and as a DJ with Z89.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Additional honorees included Jeremy Kennedy (Brian Bourke Award for Best New Artist), Karen Mihalyi (Community Spirit Award), and Susan Coleman (Spirit of the SAMMYS). \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

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Retiring SAMMYS director Liz Nowak at the 2026 SAMMYS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The most stunning tribute came midway through the evening, as the SAMMYs board members went off script and took to the stage, along with Syracuse mayor Sharon Owens, to honor retiring SAMMYS Director, Liz Nowak. Nowak, who served on the committee for 35 years, was largely responsible for growing the awards ceremony from an idea on a sheet of paper into the powerful and impactful annual event that it is today.\u00a0 She fought back tears as she received a proclamation from the Mayor and as the audience was informed that March 6, 2026 would be known as Liz Nowak Appreciation Day. \u00a0 Later in the evening, current board member James Austin was introduced as incoming director, and he vowed to carry forward Nowak\u2019s vision. \u00a0<\/p>\n

2026 SAMMY Award Recipients<\/strong><\/p>\n

Best Jazz \u2013\u00a0Cheri Giraud, All My Tomorrows<\/em><\/p>\n

Best Americana \u2013\u00a0Autumn Sun, Autumn Sun<\/em><\/p>\n

Best Other Style \u2013\u00a0Groupo Pagan, POWER<\/em><\/p>\n

Best Jam Band \u2013\u00a0Vaporeyes, Still<\/em><\/p>\n

Best Pop \u2013\u00a0PHEN, Kid<\/em><\/p>\n

Best Hard Rock \u2013\u00a0Design\/Fracture, Accountable<\/em><\/p>\n

Best Blues \u2013\u00a0Todd Shuffler with Mark Doyle and the Maniacs, Stoned and Lonesome, a Celebration of The Rolling Stones<\/em><\/p>\n

Best R&B \u2013\u00a0Tyjhier, \u201cBloom Where You Were Planted\u201d<\/p>\n

Best Alternative \u2013\u00a0Tame the Giant, Second Hand Sound<\/em><\/p>\n

Best Country \u2013\u00a0Jon Rogalia Ft. Whiskey Hollow Rush, This Side of Heaven<\/em><\/p>\n

Best Rock \u2013\u00a0violet., with love<\/em><\/p>\n

Best Hip-Hop \u2013\u00a0Amier, Into the Abyss<\/em><\/p>\n

Best Single \u2013\u00a0AK Kastro \u201cPlayed Like a Fool\u201d<\/p>\n

Founder\u2019s Award \u2013 Geoff \u201cdeafGeoff\u201d Herbert<\/p>\n

Jack O Bocchino Spirt Award \u2013 Susan Coleman<\/p>\n

Brian Bourke Award for Best New Artist \u2013 Jeremy Kennedy<\/p>\n

Community Spirit Award \u2013\u00a0Karen Mihalyi (Syracuse Community Choir)<\/p>\n

People\u2019s Choice (Best Venue) \u2013\u00a0Sharkey\u2019s Bar and Grill<\/p>\n

People\u2019s Choice (Best Event or Music Series) \u2013\u00a0Animals for Animals<\/p>\n

People\u2019s Choice (Best Artist or Band) \u2013 ColdFront<\/p>\n

People\u2019s Choice (Best Academic or Musical Organization) \u2013\u00a0Perform 4 Purpose<\/p>\n

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\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source nysmusic.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lights shined brightly on the Central New York music community on Friday, March 6 as the 2026 edition of the Syracuse Area Music Awards (SAMMYS) took place at the Palace Theatre in Syracuse. \u00a0 London McDaniel and the Plan Z perform at the 2026 Syracuse Area Music Awards. Launched in 1993, the annual celebration kicked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2322726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[450175,450176,450177,450178,450179],"class_list":["post-2322725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-liz-nowak","tag-new-york-flyers","tag-sammys","tag-sammys-hall-of-fame-dinner","tag-syracuse-area-music-awards"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Central-New-York-Music-Community-Shines-at-2026-SAMMYS.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2322725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2322725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2322725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2322727,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2322725\/revisions\/2322727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2322726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2322725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2322725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2322725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}