Rock band Skillet led all artists during the second annual We Love Christian Music awards, which were presented piecemeal at The Roadshow concerts throughout January and February. The band garnered five honors, including Song of the Year, Album of the Year and the 2013 Fan Impact Award.

Skillet earned honors for Song of the Year (“Sick of It”), Album of the Year (Rise) and The Rawkfist award (Best Rock/Alternative Artist/Group). Skillet also won the Fan Impact Award: a write-in category that asks fans to identify the artist or group who most impacted them in 2013.

New to 2014 was a category exclusive to attenders of The Roadshow, the appropriately named “The Roadshow Award.” Essentially a reimagining of 2012’s Best Live Show category, the award included all the participants of The Roadshow Tour as nominees, and co-headliner Skillet won the honor.

“This is why we do this, to write music people can be impacted by, and that can connect with them, and hopefully write something that could help bring someone closer to the Lord, and get them through a hard time in their life, give them hope with they’re hopeless,” said Skillet frontman John Cooper. “That’s what Skillet tries to do, and it means so much to me that it’s impacting people out there. We love our fans.”

Fans cast more than 18,000 votes—nearly three times last year’s involvement—in the two-dozen categories in late 2013 and early 2014, choosing the best artists and musical projects of the calendar year 2013.

The awards—created and produced by Christian music’s largest website, NewReleaseTuesday.com (NRT)—recognized artists in 24 categories. Awards were handed out live in front of thousands of people on various nights during the 22-city tour of The Roadshow.

“The atmosphere has absolutely been electric this entire tour,” said NRT President and founder Kevin McNeese. “Having the artists in person made it that much more exciting to the live audience. How else can someone in Ypsilanti, Mich. or Las Cruces, N.M. experience a real live awards show? WE LOVE bringing the experience to Christian music fans.”

Audio Adrenaline reprised their 2012 win for Video of the Year for the music video for the group’s single “Believer.” The band’s new frontman, Kevin Max, won in the brand-new category of Best Lead Singer.

Newsboys took home “The Hook” award for Best Pop Artist/Group, as well as winning Group of the Year.

Other winners included Everfound (Best New Artist), Hawk Nelson (Best Comeback/Lineup Change), Hillsong UNITED (Best Church-Based Worship Artist/Group), Andy Mineo (Best Urban/Rap Artist/Group) and J.J. Heller (Best Indie Artist).

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