Full Sail Stories

Full Sail graduates are frequently well-represented in the credits of nominated projects at the Grammy Awards, and this year is no exception. Sixty-five grads were credited on 83 nominated projects in 52 categories at the 2026 Grammy Awards, and seven grads were nominated for 13 Grammys of their own.

All seven of the grads who were nominated by name for their Grammys were alumni of Full Sail’s Recording Arts program. Grads Colin Leonard (Mastering Engineer) and Josh Gudwin (Mix Engineer) were both nominated individually in the Album of the Year and Record of the Year categories for their work on Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS and “DtMF”, and Josh received an additional nomination in Album of the Year for his mixing on Justin Bieber’s SWAG.

Producer, songwriter, and grad Matthew “M-Tech” Bernard was nominated for Grammys in three categories for his work with Kendrick Lamar: Album of the Year for GNX and Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “luther”. Grad and fellow songwriter Jorge “Ace” Taveras received a nomination in the Best Rap Song category for his contributions to GloRilla’s “TGIF.”

Additional Full Sail grads who received individual Grammys noms were Brad Blackwood (Mastering Engineer) in Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for Arcadia by Alison Krauss & Union Station, Joe Lambert (Mastering Engineer) in Best Engineered Album, Classical for Standard Stoppages by Third Coast Percussion, and Derik Lee (Producer) in Best Musical Theater Album for Just in Time.

Even more Full Sail alumni appeared in the credits of other nominated projects, like the song “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters (nominated for Song of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and Best Song Written for Visual Media), the video for “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter (nominated for Best Music Video), “Good News” by Shaboozey (nominated for Best Country Solo Performance), A Matter of Time by Laufey (nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album), and many more.