GMA Dove Awards
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.
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.
Contents
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.
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.
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 allegedly 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
The GMA Music Awards coverage did not air for eight months, finally broadcast in late December 2004 on the i Network.
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
Recipients by year
See also
External links
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