The GMA Music Awards, formerly 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. (The GMA made the name change in 2004.) 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... 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 either to the religious music that first came out of African-American churches in the 1930s or, more loosely, to both black gospel music and to the religious music composed and sung by white southern Christian artists. ... Nickname: Music City Official website: http://www. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 36th 109,247 km² 195 km 710 km 2. ...

Awards are presented honoring a wide variety of musical styles, reflecting the diversity represented in Gospel music, including rock and roll, rap, country and traditional gospel. Each ceremony features performances by a number of the industry's newest and most popular artists. Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... Hip hop music (also referred to as rap or rap music) is a style of popular music. ... Country music, also called country and western music or country-western, is an amalgam of popular musical forms developed in the Southern United States, with roots in traditional folk music, Celtic Music, Blues, Gospel music, and Old-time music. ...

Some might argue that the GMA Music Award voters tend to be musically conservative people that are more likely to vote for a traditional gospel artist, or a pop act than a rock and roll band. They also contend that most GMA Music Awards tend to go to either well-established acts that receive heavy radio airplay, or those which fall into the above categories. Some evidence for this is 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. Press photo of Steven Curtis Chapman. ...

Since the voters are all GMA members and are usually people working in the industry, critics charge they would more than likely tend to vote for whichever bands happen to 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]

A major scandal developed at the 1971 GMA Music Awards, when the Blackwood Brothers sold so many GMA memberships, their suggestions on who should receive votes dominated the results. All awards, except the GMA Hall of Fame inductees, were revoked to maintain the integrity of the event. James Blackwood was forced to apologise after the scandal, and the 1972 GMAMA was held under new rules designed to preserve the integrity of the voting. James Webre Blackwood (August 4, 1919 - February 3, 2002) was a noted American gospel music singer. ...

Until 1978, the GMA Music 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 Music Awards were moved to late March separate from GMA Week. National Quartet Convention (1957-present) The first National Quartet Convention was held in 1957. ...

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 refused to reissue his awards to another winner. English's name remained on the winner's list against his stated wishes.

In 1998, the GMA, growing concerned over some blatantly secular entries in their sacred categories, enacted a new Definition of Gospel Music, intended to strengthen standards which were too weak. Prior to the Definition of Gospel Music, the only music which qualified were music which was sold in Christian Booksellers Association affiliated stores. The new standards resulted in complaints by some fans and artists after thirteen entries were disqualified for being too secular in the 1999 GMAMA. The rules were rescinded afterwards, and many groups victimised by the rulings in 1999 were winners in 2000. This controversy continues in 2006, as top pop artists who are not in the genre won major awards -- Carrie Underwood and Brian Littrell were major GMA Music Award winners. Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American country music singer who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol. ... Brian Thomas Littrell (born on February 20, 1975 in Lexington, Kentucky) is a member of the Backstreet Boys. ...

Another major scandal developed in 2004 with a tape-delayed broadcast which never aired. The GMA signed a contract to air the awards live in selected Regal Cinema multiplexes, with United Paramount Network featuring tape-delayed coverage to air five weeks after the GMA Music Awards were held. When GMA Music Awards co-host Deion Sanders announced on May 15, 2004, he was leaving Viacom's The NFL Today, intending to join Disney's ESPN NFL Countdown, UPN cancelled the broadcast of the GMA Music Awards. This move was reminiscent of the 1988 decision by CBS to cancel a 60 Minutes story featuring Richard Petty after reporter Diane Sawyer defected to ABC. The GMA Music Awards broadcast did not air for eight months, finally airing in late December 2004 on the i Network. 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 NFL cornerback, former Major League Baseball player, and former CBS Sports commentator. ... Viacom is a high-growth media conglomerate with various worldwide interests in cable / satellite television networks (MTV Networks and BET), video gaming (Sega of America), and movie production and distribution (the Paramount Pictures movie studio and DreamWorks). ... The NFL Today is a TV program that precedes the American football program The NFL on CBS on CBS Sports, which is the sports division of the U.S. TV station network CBS. The program usually airs at noon on Sundays of the National Football League regular season. ... The Walt Disney Company (most commonly known as Disney) (NYSE: DIS) is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. ... ESPN (once an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming 24 hours a day. ... For other uses, see CBS (disambiguation). ... Sixty Minutes was also the replacement for the BBC current affairs programme Nationwide. ... Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937 in Level Cross, North Carolina) is a renowned former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver. ... Diane Sawyer Diane Sawyer (born December 22, 1945 as Lila Diana Sawyer) is a television journalist for the U.S. network ABC News and co-anchor of ABCs Good Morning America along with Charles Gibson and Robin Roberts. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is a television and radio network in the United States. ...

That reputation cost the GMAMA a chance at a national broadcast in 2005, and again in 2006, when the GMA recently announced there would be no television coverage.

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

• 1969
• 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978
• 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
• 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
• 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

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. ...

External links

• GMA Music Awards Website