Online Voting Opens Tuesday for San Diego Music Awards, Including P.O.D. and Slightly Stoopid

No matter your music taste — rock, jazz, country, pop, blues, or more — the 34th annual San Diego Music Awards has something for you, with contenders announced Monday night via livestream.

Awards cover various categories, including Best Folk Song, Best Country or Americana Album, Best World Music Song and Best Video. San Diego-based artists P.O.D. and Slightly Stoopid will face off for 2025 Song of the Year.

Winners will be chosen through public voting online, which opens Tuesday at 12 p.m. The awards ceremony will once again take place on the outdoor concert stage at Humphrey’s by the Bay on April 27.

Nominees in the top categories are:

Artist of the Year

• Anthony Cullins
• Cattle Decapitation
• Daring Greatly
• Kimmi Bitter
• Pierce the Veil
• Sun Room
• Thee Sacred Souls

Song of the Year

• Kimmi Bitter – Cowboy Kind of Girl
• Jon Foreman – Stay Wild, Wildflower
• Pierce the Veil – Karma Police
• P.O.D. – I Won’t Bow Down
• Slightly Stoopid – I’ll Be Gone
• Sun Room – Hate It When You Call
• Thee Sacred Souls – Live For You

Album of the Year

• Jeff Berkley – Tumbleweed
• Jon Foreman – In Bloom
• Kimmi Bitter – Old School
• P.O.D. – Veritas
• Slack Key Ohana – Hawaiian Cowboy
• Swami & The Bed Of Nails – All Of This Awaits You
• Thee Sacred Souls – Got A Story To Tell

Best Local Recording

• Archie Thompson – Raw Soul: Vol. 5
• Eric Schroeder – Turned on the Stereo
• Mark Montijo – If I Get to Heaven
• Nicey Nice World – Live Antic
• The Resinators – VS. 
• The Tourmaliners – Live & Alive
• Will Stucky – Familiar Frontier

Best New Artist

• Cat-22
• Dusk Drama
• Hi-Five Ghost
• Kela Sako
• The Film Company
• The Neighborhood Kids
• Westwinders

Best Video

• Aviator Stash – Mobil Blues
• Cheyenne Benton – Sorry
• Daring Greatly – Trouble
• Fake Glasses – Paranoid
• Half Hour Late – Gloomy Days
• The Eiffels – Beautiful Life
• The Neighborhood Kids – Biddi Bomb

For more: See the full list of nominees. Tickets for the ceremony go on sale Tuesday.

Proceeds benefit the San Diego Music Foundation’s “Guitars for Schools” program. To date the program has raised $850,785 and put instruments into the hands of students at 124 schools from San Ysidro to San Onofre, according to SDMA.