Prolific gospel singer, Celestine Donkor, says she deserved to be included in the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards ‘Songwriter of the Year’ list.

The singer believes the Board did not listen carefully to the songs they shortlisted for the aforementioned category, thus, her song, ‘Only You’ could not make the cut, although it merited a feature.

Sharing her opinion on Daybreak Hitz, she said “it’s quite surprising to me that a song like “Only You” could not make the list. I am 100% sure that there was no proper listening done by the VGMA Board,” she told Andy Dosty on Hitz FM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF_Qi9QqD48

Although Celestine is not trying to belittle the decision of the Board, she believes certain songs shouldn’t have been in the category.

“I listened to some of the songs that were nominated in that category, I mean if your ears are on the ground and you really listen to the songs based on lyrical content, you’d know...

“Not to say I undermine or underestimate the judgment of the Board, but I strongly feel some of the songs were not given proper listening,” she continued.

Furthermore, the “I Will Worship You” singer suggested that, some songwriters (EFYA, Kofi Kinaata, Akwaboah, etc.), are often repeated in the category, preventing other potential vocalists from getting the chance to be added to the list, even when they have more compelling lyrics.

Even though she gave her own song, "Only You", a greater nod, she declined to replace it with any of the songs in the category.

“It is not in my place to replace it with any song. I just feel my song was not very well-listened to,” said the “Supernatural” singer.

In the instance of rebuttal, PRO of Charterhouse, Robert Klah, said that Celestine Donkor’s “Only You” was actually listened to by the Board several times. Unluckily, it just couldn’t make the list.

“I can assure Celestine Donkor that the song was listened to multiple times. But I can understand where she is coming from. She feels very strong about her work and feels it deserves to be given a great nod. It’s not like ‘Only You’ is not a great song, it is a great song,” he declared.

“For me, it’s about back to the basket – you sieve it and some are selected and others are dropped along the way. But to say we didn’t listen to it, I can 100% say we listened to it multiple times. Unfortunately, it just didn’t make the cut,” he added.

Irrespective of the numbers of times the Board claimed to have listened to “Only You” by Celestine, the singer still stood firm in challenging them to give it another hearing, believing that it might compel them to review the list.

Meanwhile, Celestine Donkor has expressed gratitude to the Board for considering her for the following categories: Best Female Vocal Performance (Only You), Gospel Artiste of the Year, and Best Gospel Song (Only You).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3GXB272F84