Well it's that time of year again, and Tha Underground Awards show is promising to be bigger and better than ever.

With hot international talent and even hotter local acts, this is an event you may just have to lock into your handhelds to come out and support.

There will be 12 categories of awards to be presented, and the large number of nominees will be sitting on the edge of their seat tonight anticipating their name will be called for at least one of them.

Jonathan 'JT' Talbot promises this is an event you won't want to miss.

He said: "This year I can guarantee that our sound and video presentation will be working properly and the show will be a hit.

"Also, our after party, sponsored by Heineken - Green Synergy, will be a free party and that is a better offer than other events happening that night."

There will be five nominees for DJ of the year who will be playing at the after party to have a chance to represent Bermuda in the Green Synergy Competition in Curacao.

He added: "Xenia Dill and Lamont Robinson of Jakoma will be designing the red carpet with living statues, which has become a tradition with every awards show.

"They try to out do themselves every year and they are not telling me what they are doing this year.

"One thing I can say, is that we are bringing back out the 100 foot red carpet to add to the glitzy ambiance. The crowd really seem to feel the glamour of and awards show when they walk the red carpet."

The event will be hosted by Joy Barnum (who is also a nominee) and Gavin 'Sanjeta' Smith of Chewstick.

"Canjelae Taylor may be a crowd favourite and Twanee Butterfield, as she has recently put out the hit song 'Holla', which seems to be doing well," JT said of the nominees to look out for.

"Also I'm excited about Slanger, a reggae artist who is currently incarcerated. He has put out more work over the course of the year then people who are free, and he is nominated for five awards."

This year's Brian Talbot Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Keevil 'The Captain' Burgess of Power 95.

Our biggest act and nominee for the night is young international heartthrob, Brandon Kane, from Los Angeles who is dubbed to be the next Chris Brown.

Brandon who is 15-years-old, already has a fan base of more than 265,000 fans and more than 100 fan sites around the world.

With over 4.2 million music plays in eight months on his website he holds the title of 'Artist Of The Year' in numerous teen magazines and is a recipient of the Youth Star Award presented at the Las Vegas Music Awards in August, 2007.

"He will also be taking over the Underground radio show on Power 95 on Sunday," said JT.

The Underground Music Awards is in its fourth year and was started as a way to commemorate the one year anniversary for the website being in operation.

"To show appreciation, we thought of hosting an awards show BET/VMA style," explained JT.

JT and Earl Basden (co-host) host a show every Sunday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Power 95, where they play the hits of local artist that support their website which promotes unsigned artist.

To prepare for the awards show, there is a nomination process, which is an internal process by the underground committee as well as JROC Communication representatives, to select nominees.

Selecting winners comprises of industry people in Bermuda and oversees such as, producers, songwriters, artist and managers, who vote on who they think is worthy of awards. The results remain undisclosed until the presenters open the envelope.

"We decided to included international artist as well as Bermudians, but maintain the 60/40 ratio, to expand our possibilities and opportunities.

"In the past, some nominee have come from as far as Sweden and France," explained JT

Artist submit their material to the website and it goes through a listening process which is a very selective process where approval is not guaranteed.

"The nominees this year, were really difficult to pick, because the competition was really tight," said JT.

Tickets for this event are $25 for general seating and $40 for VIP, and are available at Soundstage, Mambo and Dub City on Court Street or you can call 336 7955.

For more information on Tha Underground and the Awards Show visit www.thaunderground.net.