Steve Richard Wins 'Best New Artist' at the 15th Annual Inspirational Country Music Award Show (ICM Awards)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Top40 Charts/ Luck Media & Marketing) - The success Steve Richard (www.steverichardmusic.com) is enjoying at Christian Country Radio this year with his singles 'Make It Into Heaven' and 'Never Leave You Behind' made him the overwhelming choice as 'Best New Artist' at the 15th Annual Inspirational Country Music Award Show (ICM Awards), a star studded ceremony taped for broadcast from Trinity Music USA Auditorium.

'Make It Into Heaven' hit the Top Three on Power Source's Christian Country Top 100 earlier in 2009; 'Never Leave You Behind' is currently receiving airplay in the format. Both songs are from the charismatic country-rock singer/songwriter's self-titled debut, which Richard worked on with producer/engineer Michael Bradford (Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker, Travis Tritt) and Grammy Award winning composer Jeff Silbar (Alabama, Janie Fricke, Bette Midler), not to mention superstar John Rich of Big & Rich fame.

As a 2009 ICM Award winner, Richard finds himself in the company of country superstars and fellow newcomer artists alike: Tracy Lawrence, Point of Grace, Cross Country, Tommy Brandt, Sandra Dee, The Roys and Ricky Skaggs. The singer joined fellow ICM Award winner Craig Morgan on several tour dates this past summer.

The 2009 ICM Awards will be aired on TCT Networks, The Worship Network, Cornerstone TeleVision, NRB Network, My Family TV, CTS Television Canada, Angel Two Network, Total Living Network, Golden Eagle Broadcasting (Oral Roberts University) and DayStar Television Network-all reaching over 500 million people and/or subscribers in the United States, Canada and over 170 nations throughout the world.

Another single from Richard's debut, 'Stomp,' ignited a line dance craze at country dance clubs and honky tonks-and was developed into an interactive video game, 'Steve Richard Stomp,' that internet users can play on radio station websites.

Richard, whose music has been embraced by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), has also toured nationally as both a headliner and opening act for Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, Dierks Bentley, Montgomery Gentry, Jake Owen and Luke Bryan, among others.