Rome hosts first-ever Catholic Music Awards

By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -

MIAMI| Four singers and one choir from South Florida were among the winners of the first-ever Catholic Music Awards, held July 27, 2025, in Rome’s Auditorium Conciliazione.

The event was celebrated a day before the beginning of the Jubilee of Influencers and the Jubilee of Youth in Rome, and gathered Catholic composers, musicians, singers, producers, music engineers, and mixers from around the world to celebrate excellence in Catholic music performed in Spanish, English, Italian, and Portuguese. More than 1,400 songs were submitted in 19 categories across the four languages.

South Florida’s winners included:

• JoEmma Vomvolakis – Best English Song for “Be Still”
• Agnes Choir (St. Agnes Parish in Key Biscayne) – Best Parish Choir in Spanish for “Ven a mi”
• Jessica Zuluaga (Jessy Z) – Best Engineering Song in Spanish for “Que amor más grande”
• Johann Alvarez – Best Male Singer in Spanish for “Hoy te amo más”
• Javier Ivan Diaz – Best Praise-Worship Song in Spanish for “Pan del Cielo”

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, the Honduran prelate who founded the awards alongside the Miami-based Ramón Pané Foundation and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications, expressed his gratitude during the ceremony.

“Lord, you receive our prayers and you know that among the gifts of the Holy Spirit—wisdom, counsel, science…—there is also music, because God is music of heaven, and because He truly wants our prayer to also be fulfilled with the joy that comes from singing to him, glorifying him, and loving him,” Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga said.

The next day, the cardinal presented Pope Leo XIV with an honorary Catholic Media Award, a golden statuette of the Sacred Heart of Jesus standing before an upright guitar and treble clef that has been sculpted into a cross. The cardinal recalled the Holy Father’s Augustinian roots and quoted St. Augustine’s musical wisdom: “He who sings prays twice.”

Although the Catholic Music Awards were first announced in September 2024, Ricardo Grzona, executive president of the Ramón Pané Foundation, said that the concept is one they had previously explored with Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga.

"I believe it was truly providential,” Grzona said. “First, because this hadn’t been done in a long time. We believe it’s necessary for us to support the people most in need, in the sense that there are very good singers, but they’re only known in their parishes."

Grzona explained that although the Catholic Church has always supported the arts, he feels that little has been done in recent years to encourage emerging Catholic artists, while the Evangelical Church often backs its musicians with industry resources.

“I understand that there is very good production quality among our evangelical brothers, but we also have very high-quality productions, and it was seen in the Catholic Music Awards,” said Grzona.

He hopes that the global exposure from the first gala, through media partners, Vaticans support and YouTube streaming—will boost Catholic musicians’ visibility.

Grzona also encouraged Catholics to be mindful of the music they use in ministry.

“It strongly catches our attention that many Catholic groups expose the Blessed Sacrament and sing songs by evangelicals who don’t believe in the Blessed Sacrament,” said Grzona.

He believes that in many cases, Catholic artists already have fitting music that just needs to be heard.

 

‘YOUR MUSIC IS THE CONNECTION’

Of the many songs Colombian-born singer-songwriter Javier Ivan Diaz could have submitted for a Catholic Music Award, he only sent “Pan del Cielo,” a bilingual song he composed in 2021 and originally recorded with Kairy Marquez in English and Spanish.

“I wanted to do it liturgical because that has been my biggest call in the last couple of years. A lot of people are writing and performing songs for evangelization. But for me, it’s important to make sure that young people feel connected at Mass with music that is appropriate for Mass,” said Diaz.

Over the years, he’s noticed how non-Catholic Christian singers have been the frontrunners in popularizing worship and spiritual music, especially attracting youth and young adults because of its mainstream style.

“That’s why it’s very important for us to have a fresh sound in the Church. Our liturgy is different, and it must be approached with reverence. But I believe in terms of the secular world, evangelization through music is so important, and nowadays Catholic composers and singers are doing such a good job in terms of quality,” Diaz said.

He believes that recognizing Catholic artists from around the world with a Catholic Music Award at the Vatican is one way the Catholic Church is spreading the word. Many have dubbed the award the “Catholic Grammy.”

For Diaz, winning a Catholic Music Award was “a gift from God.”

“I’ve been faithful to music ministry since I was 13. I was basically playing guitar in my country and that’s how everything started. And I never changed my mind. I always had it clear as a teenager that I wanted to serve God through music,” said Diaz, who is the music director at Little Flower Parish in Hollywood and a choir director for Broward County Schools.

He advises aspiring Catholic artists to take the mission seriously, and not do it as a means of pursuing fame or fortune. If that’s the case, he says “you are in the wrong field.”

“This is about winning the kingdom of God,” Diaz said. “The only one that deserves to be famous is God. Your music is the connection, and it has to be the instrument that people use to pray to the Lord.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Support Catholic music and listen to the winners of the Catholic Music Awards at catholicmusicawards.world.