2006 Readers' Choice Christian Music Awards

We now have the results of our annual Skillet vs. Apologetix contest—oops, we mean, our annual Readers’ Choice Awards.

And the big winners are—surprise! Skillet and Apologetix! Again!

With two of the most passionate and faithful fan clubs in Christian music, approximately one-third of our 1,838 reader votes came from Skillet and Apologetix fans. And as a result, the two bands rose to the top in several categories for the second straight year, with Skillet’s “Panheads” just winning out.

Skillet was named Best Band with Apologetix just behind, while Jars of Clay was a distant third. And in the Best Album Category, Skillet’s Comatose was named No. 1, while Apologetix’s Hits: The Road was No. 2.

Jeremy Camp and Rebecca St. James repeated as Best Male and Female Artists, respectively, while Leeland topped the list as Best New Artist.

We also had a few amusing typographical errors in this year’s voting. In the Best Album category, there was a vote for Jars of Clay’s Goof Monsters. The Best Band category included a vote for “Casting Crows,” which we think might be some sort of conglomeration between Casting Crowns and Counting Crows. And then there were the usual stabs at Hillsong worship leader Darlene’s last name, with everything from “Check” to “Czech” to “Zwetch.”

Finally, congrats to Seth Haner of Front Royal, Virginia, who won 15 free CDs of his/her choice, courtesy of ChristianBook.com. Seth’s name was drawn at random from all who filled out the survey and left an e-mail address.