Some of Christian and gospel music’s most gifted performers were honored at the 53rd annual GMA Dove Awards show where history was made this year.
The top award was taken home by CeCe Winans, who won Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for her No. 1 Billboard hit, “Believe for It.” The multi-Grammy-winning gospel singer became the first African American female solo artist to be named Artist of the Year at the Dove Awards.
CeCe Winans took home two trophies, including the evening’s top honor, artist of the year, capping a strong year that saw Winans’ inspirational “Believe for It” spend 12 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart and reach No. 7 on Christian Airplay. During the GMA Dove Awards, “Believe for It” was named song of the year.
When she accepted her Artist of the Year award, Winans belted out the hymn, “To God Be the Glory.”
“It is amazing when we come together, love each other and stand for righteousness what God will do. … I am believing for God to move in this industry like He has never moved before,” Winans declared.
The ceremony opened with Crowder performing the swampy rock song “Good God Almighty” and later earned rock/contemporary recorded song of the year for “Higher Power” featuring Hulvey.
Jekalyn Carr offered a soulful, commanding rendition of “My Portion,” and the song later picked up the GMA Dove Award for traditional gospel recorded song of the year. DOE performed a mash-up of “When I Pray” and “What I’m Waiting For,” and won contemporary gospel album of the year (Clarity).
Gateway Worship Español offered a stirring bilingual performance that blended worship, Latin and rap, and won Spanish language recorded song of the year for “Danzando,” which featured Daniel Calveti, Becky Collazos, Christine D’Clario, Travy Joe and Josh Morales.
Phil Wickham picked up songwriter of the year (artist), while his album Hymn of Heaven was named worship album of the year and the title track was named worship recorded song of the year. He also performed his four-week No. 1 Billboard Christian Airplay hit “House of the Lord.”
His acceptance speech was filled with gratitude as he noted he has been leading worship in various church services since he was in his early teens.
The topics of loss and rejuvenation were touched on throughout the evening, as TobyMac thanked the audience for their support and prayers following the loss of his eldest son, Truett, in 2019.
Maverick City Music won two honors during the evening, including gospel worship recorded song of the year (“Breathe,” featuring Chandler Moore, DOE and Jonathan McReynolds) as well as gospel worship album of the year with Tribl, for Tribl Nights Atlanta.
As the evening began to draw to a close, Winans took the stage after being named as the recipient of the evening’s biggest honor, artist of the year. In lieu of a traditional acceptance speech, she gracefully sang a chorus of “To God Be The Glory,” as the audience joined in, creating a uniting, impromptu a cappella choir.
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