The Gospel Music Association Dove Awards (shortened to GMA Dove Awards), known as the GMA Music Awards from 2004-2006, and a few years before but better known even then as the Dove Awards, were created in 1969 by the Gospel Music Association to honor the outstanding achievements in contemporary Christian and gospel music. They are held annually in Nashville, Tennessee. For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... The Gospel Music Association (GMA) was founded in 1964 for the purpose of supporting and promoting the development of all forms of Gospel music. ... Love Song Contemporary Christian music (CCM), or Christian pop music, is a sub-genre of Christian music. ... Gospel music may refer to the religious music that first came out of African-American churches in the first quarter of the twentieth century or, more loosely, to both black gospel music and to the religious music composed and sung by predominately white Southern Gospel artists. ... Nickname: Music City Location in Davidson County and the state of Tennessee Coordinates: Country United States State Tennessee Counties Davidson County Founded: 1779 Incorporated: 1806 Government  - Mayor Bill Purcell (D) Area  - City  526. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ...

Awards are presented honoring a wide variety of musical styles, reflecting the diversity represented in Christian pop music, including Christian hip hop, Christian rap, Christian metal, Christian punk, Christian rock, Christian worship music, Christian soft rock (Contemporary Christian music), and Christian pop rock. Each award features performances by a number of the industry's newest and most popular artists including Rebecca St. James, Bethany Dillon, and Kirk Franklin. The 38th Annual GMA Dove Awards will be presented on Wednesday, April 25, 2007. Upon This Rock, Larry Norman (1969) Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), or Christian pop/rock music, is a sub-genre of Christian music. ... Christian hip hop (originally gospel rap, also known as holy hip hop or Christ hop) is a form of hip hop music which uses Christian lyrical themes to express the songwriters faith. ... Christian rap (originally gospel rap, but also known as holy hip hop, or Christian hip-hop) is a form of rap music that uses Christian-themed lyrics to express the songwriters faith. ... Christian metal is a form of heavy metal music and its many subgenres with Christian lyrics and themes. ... Christian punk is a form of Christian alternative music and a subgenre of punk rock with some degree of Christian lyrical content. ... Christian rock (occasionally abbreviated CR) is a form of rock music played by bands whose members are Christian and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith. ... Worship music is a style of Christian music that is commonly used to denote songs that are used to worship God and set in a choral music style, usually with repeating, short, easily sung chorus parts. ... Christian soft rock, also referred to as Christian lite rock, Christian easy rock, and Christian mellow rock, is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock and roll to compose a softer, supposedly more ear-pleasing sound for listening, often at work. ... Contemporary Christian Music (or CCM) is a genre of popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith. ... Christian pop rock is a sub-genre of Christian pop and combines the elements of both Christian pop and Christian rock. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Bethany Dillon Bethany Dillon (born September 22, 1988 in Bellefontaine, Ohio) is a young Christian soft rock (Christian Contemporary music) artist. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Location

Until 1978, the GMA Dove Awards were held in September, during the National Quartet Convention. The Awards were not held in 1979 (except for the GMA Hall of Fame) as they were moved to April 1980, for Gospel Music Week, where it has been held annually except in 1999, when the GMA Dove Awards were moved to late March separate from GMA Week. The National Quartet Convention is an annual gathering of Southern Gospel quartets and musicians. ...

Issues and criticisms

Some critics argue that the GMA Dove Award voters tend to be musically conservative and biased in favor of traditional gospel and pop artists over other genres. Another common criticism is that most GMA Dove Awards tend to go to either well-established acts that receive heavy radio airplay, or those which fall into the aforementioned categories. Evidence for such claims includes the fact that Steven Curtis Chapman won the "Songwriter of the Year" award 9 out of 10 years and "Male Vocalist of the Year" 7 of 12 years, with some of those wins coming in years when he released no new material. Steven Curtis Chapman (born November 21, 1962 in Paducah, Kentucky, USA) is a contemporary Christian musician who has won five Grammy awards and more Gospel Music Association awards than any other artist in history. ...

Since the voters are all GMA members and usually work in the industry, critics charge they would more than likely tend to vote for whichever bands have the most "buzz" at the moment or are associated with their area of the industry, as with most award voterships. Supporters of the GMA contend that this is likely less prevalent than in secular awards due to Christians placing a high value on ethical behavior. [1]

The 1971 voting scandal

An indication that gospel music was fast approaching professionalism was a bona fide scandal over the 1971 GMA's Dove Awards. The incident involved one of gospel music's premier groups, the Blackwood Brothers, who had captured nine out of fourteen awards. They were accused of having conducted an extensive campaign to enlist new members to the GMA and to encourage members to vote for particular award nominees in the Dove Award balloting. Though no specific bylaw of the organization had been broken, the tactic created an industrywide concern over "voting irregularities and ethical ballot influence and solicitation." The GMA Board voted to nullify the entire process, thereby invalidating all the awards that had been presented at the October 8, 1971 banquet held in Nashville, in which the GMA formed a committee to adjust the voting process with "safeguards to prevent any future irregularities in Dove Awards balloting." James Blackwood issued a statement in support of the organization's decision and strongly urged all other participants in the Dove Awards to subscribe and adhere to the code of ethics to be set forth by the Gospel Music Association. The Blackwood Brothers Quartet is a famous American gospel music singing group. ... GMA can refer to: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Philippines GMA Network, a leading broadcast network in the Philippines Good Morning America, a morning show on ABC Intel GMA, Intel Graphic Media Accelerator, a line of integrated graphic processors (IGP) Good Morning Australia, a 5 day-a-week morning... James Webre Blackwood (August 4, 1919 - February 3, 2002) was a noted American gospel music singer. ... The Gospel Music Association (GMA) was founded in 1964 for the purpose of supporting and promoting the development of all forms of Gospel music. ...

The Michael English scandal

Shortly after the 1994 show, Male Vocalist winner Michael English admitted to an extramaritial affair with Marabeth Jordon, a member of former Group winner First Call. Although English returned his awards to the GMA after news of his affair became public the week following the awards presentation, the GMA declined to reissue his awards to another winner. English's name remained on the winner's list against his stated wishes. Michael English is a Christian singer who has been recording music since 1972. ...

Definition of Gospel Music

In 1998, the GMA, concerned over some blatantly secular entries in their categories, enacted a new Definition of Gospel Music, intended to strengthen standards they felt too weak. Prior to the Definition of Gospel Music, the only qualified music was that sold in Christian Booksellers Association affiliated stores. The new standards resulted in complaints by some fans and artists after thirteen entries were disqualified as being too secular in the 1999 Dove Awards.

The rules were rescinded afterward, and many groups disqualified by the rulings in 1999 were winners in 2000.

The controversy grew in 2004 when Switchfoot and Stacie Orrico were major winners with music that was predominantly secular in nature. Switchfoot also drew criticism with an endorsement contract with Budweiser. Some considered the Budweiser deal inappropriate for artists nominated for a GMA Dove Award. Switchfoot is a Grammy nominated alternative rock band from San Diego, California, United States. ... Stacie Joy Orrico (born March 3, 1986) is Grammy Award-nominated pop singer, songwriter, and occasional actress. ... Switchfoot is a Grammy nominated alternative rock band from San Diego, California, United States. ... Bud Light redirects here. ...

This controversy continues in 2006, as top pop artists who are not in the genre won major awards, as Carrie Underwood and Brian Littrell were major GMA Dove Award winners. Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is a Grammy-award winning American country music singer who won the fourth season of American Idol. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The 2004 television non-broadcast

In 2004, a major fiasco occurred with the GMA Music Awards (the first year with the name change), with a taped broadcast that never aired. The GMA contracted to screen the awards live in selected Regal Cinema multiplexes, with United Paramount Network to broadcast taped coverage five weeks later. However, when GMAMA co-host Deion Sanders announced on May 15, 2004 that he was leaving Viacom's The NFL Today, intending to join ESPN's NFL Countdown, UPN cancelled the broadcast of the awards. Located in Fort, Regal Cinema is one of the oldest in Mumbai, India. ... The official logo for UPN. UPN (which originally stood for the United Paramount Network) is a television network in the United States, owned by Viacom Inc. ... Deion Luwynn Sanders (born August 9, 1967 in Fort Myers, Florida) is an American former National Football League cornerback, Major League Baseball outfielder, and CBS Sports commentator. ... Viacom (NYSE: VIA) (NYSE: VIAb) is an American media conglomerate with various worldwide interests in cable and satellite television networks (MTV Networks and BET), and movie production and distribution (the Paramount Pictures movie studio and DreamWorks). ... The NFL Today is a TV show that precedes the American football program The NFL on CBS on CBS Sports. ... ESPN (which formerly stood for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming 24 hours a day. ... Sunday NFL Countdown is a pregame show of all the NFL action for that week. ...

The GMA Music Awards coverage did not air for eight months, finally broadcast in late December 2004 on the i Network. . The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions. ...

There has not been a live national broadcast of the Dove Awards since 2002.

Categories

The 2004 Awards included:

• Song of the Year
• Songwriter of the Year
• Male Vocalist of the Year
• Female Vocalist of the Year
• Group of the Year
• Artist of the Year
• New Artist of the Year
• Producer of the Year
• Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year
• Modern Rock Recorded Song of the Year
• Rock Recorded Song of the Year
• Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year
• Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year
• Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year
• Southern Gospel Recorded Song of the Year
• Bluegrass Recorded Song of the Year
• Country Recorded Song of the Year
• Urban Recorded Song of the Year
• Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year
• Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year
• Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year
• Modern Rock Album of the Year
• Rock Album of the Year
• Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year
• Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year
• Inspirational Album of the Year
• Southern Gospel Album of the Year
• Bluegrass Album of the Year
• Country Album of the Year
• Urban Album of the Year
• Traditional Gospel Album of the Year
• Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year
• Praise & Worship Album of the Year
• Instrumental Album of the Year
• Children's Music Album of the Year
• Spanish Language Album of the Year
• Special Event Album of the Year
• Musical of the Year
• Youth/Children's Musical of the Year
• Choral Collection of the Year
• Worship Song of the Year
• Recorded Music Packaging of the Year
• Short Form Music Video of the Year
• Long Form Music Video of the Year

Winners of the Dove Award of the Gospel Music Association for Song of the Year are: 2003 Revolution (Kirk Franklin) 2002 I Can Only Imagine (Bart Millard) 2001 Redeemer (Nicole C. Mullen) 2000 This Is Your Time (Michael W. Smith, Wes King) 1999 My Deliverer (Rich Mullins, Mitch McVicker) 1998... Winners of the Gospel Music Association Dove Award for Songwriter of the Year are: 2002 Bart Millard 2001 Nicole C. Mullen 2000 Michael W. Smith 1999 Rich Mullins 1998 Steven Curtis Chapman 1997 Steven Curtis Chapman 1996 Michael W. Smith 1995 Steven Curtis Chapman 1994 Steven Curtis Chapman 1993 Steven... Winners of the Gospel Music Association Dove Award for New Artist of the Year are: 2005 Building 429 2004 Jeremy Camp 2003 Paul Colman Trio 2002 ZOEgirl 2001 Plus One 2000 Ginny Owens 1999 Jennifer Knapp 1998 Avalon 1997 Jaci Velasquez 1996 Jars of Clay 1995 Clay Crosse 1994 Point...

Recipients by year

The 1st Dove Awards were held in 1969. ... The 2nd Dove Awards were held in 1970. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into GMA Music Awards. ... The fourth GMA Music Awards were held in 1972 for accomplishments of musicians for the year 1972. ... The twentieth annual Dove Awards were held in 1989, recognizing accomplishments of musicians for the year 1988. ... The thirty-third annual Dove Awards were held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, TN on April 25, 2002 recognizing accomplishments of musicians for the year 2001. ... The thirty-fourth annual Dove Awards were held in 2003 recognizing accomplishments of musicians for the year 2002. ... The thirty-sixth annual GMA Music Awards were held in 2005 recognizing accomplishments of musicians for the year 2004. ...

See also

• Christian pop
• Christian pop culture

Upon This Rock, Larry Norman (1969) Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), or Christian pop/rock music, is a sub-genre of Christian music. ... Christian pop culture (or Christian popular culture), is the vernacular Christian culture that prevails in any given society. ...

External links

• GMA Dove Awards official website
• ThoughtQuotient.com BackStage at the 2006 GMA Music Awards