Rising Star Fernando Varela Wins 2011 Latinos In Social Media (#latism) Award For Best Artist

Boston, MA (Top40 Charts/ Fernando Varela Official Website) Fernando Varela, one of the music industry's rising stars, won the 2011 Latinos in Social Media (#LATISM) award for Best Artist Using Social Media to Reach Latin@s, announced at last week's #LATISM Gala Dinner, which was sponsored by Toyota.

Varela, who will be performing live at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas on November 25 as part of David Foster and Friends, earned more online votes than Colombian pop star Juanes and Salsa music legend Willie Colón. The three artists were the three final nominees. Juanes has over 3.4 million Twitter followers while Colón has over 369,00 followers.

"I am thrilled about the news. #LATISM has been with me from the very beginning. It is the premier Latino social media organization on the Internet today," Varela said. "Their support has been outstanding."

Julio Ricardo Varela, Fernando's brother, accepted the award on behalf of his talented brother, who has a social media network of over 150K fans across Twitter, Facebook, and Sónico. In addition, Fernando's video "Por ti volaré" (the #1 version of that song on ITunes) has over 21,000 views since being uploaded in the spring.

"Fernando is a talent who truly understands how social media connects his body of work to his growing fan base," said Julio Ricardo Varela, @julito77 on Twitter. "This award only confirms that."

For more information and news about Fernando, visit FernandoVarela.com