AND THE WINNER IS . . ....

AND THE WINNER IS . . . : Another music awards show? That’s right. Frustrated by what they see as a neglect of the hip-hop world by the Grammy Awards and other honors, the management of New York-based Source magazine will inaugurate its own Source Awards on April 25 with a show at the Paramount Theatre in New York.

“This is not being done as a slap in the face to the Grammys,” says Source publisher David Mays, who started the publication as a one-page newsletter in 1988 and has seen it grow to a full magazine with a national circulation of more than 100,000. “But the mainstream has taken its time to recognize hip-hop. Even now, as big a force as it is, it still suffers from a stigma.”

Part of that stigma may be on display at the Source Awards, as the winners are expected to be drawn largely from gangsta rap, which has been under attack from a variety of organizations who contend that it celebrates and encourages violence. Snoop Doggy Dogg and 2Pac (Tupac Shakur) are almost certain to be among the nominees, which will be announced this week.

The image of rap came up when Mays approached television networks about broadcasting the ceremony.

“We didn’t get a lot of positive feedback,” he says. “So we said, ‘Hey, let’s do it without TV, do it as a major event and do it so well that we can use this as a springboard (for TV next year.)’ ”