The 40th Annual Dove Awards were handed out last night, and singer/songwriter Brandon Heath and worship band Casting Crowns went away with the most top honors. CCM favorite Steven Curtis Chapman was honored as Artist of the Year, and Tenth Avenue North received the Dove Award for New Artist. This was the first time those categories were decided by both the gospel/Christian music industry and its fans, as 250,000 votes were cast on gospelmusicchannel.com and via text messaging.
The Dove Award recipients in the overall categories were:
Artist of the Year – Steven Curtis Chapman
New Artist of the Year – Tenth Avenue North
Song of the Year — “Give Me Your Eyes”; songwriters Brandon Heath and Jason Ingram
Songwriter of the Year — Steven Curtis Chapman
Male Vocalist of the Year — Brandon Heath
Female Vocalist of the Year — Natalie Grant
Group of the Year — Casting Crowns
Brandon Heath followed up his 2008 New Artist of the Year honor with three awards this year for Male Vocalist of the Year; Song of the Year Dove Award “Give Me Your Eyes,” co-written with Jason Ingram; and Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year.
Casting Crowns also took home three awards, including their fifth consecutive Group of the Year award as well as Christmas Album of the Year for its 2008 chart-topping, first Christmas project Peace On Earth; Short Form Music Video for the powerful music video “Slow Fade.”
Natalie Grant extends her reign as Female Vocalist of the Year with her fourth consecutive trophy in that category. Among the Dove Awards other multiple artist winners were Michael W. Smith (for Inspirational Recorded Song and Praise & Worship Album), Blind Boys of Alabama (Traditional Gospel Recorded Song and Album), Chris Tomlin (for his contributions to Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song and Special Event Album), and Jeff & Sherri Easter and Lewis Family (Bluegrass Recorded Song and Bluegrass Album).
The complete list of winners:

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Steven Curtis Chapman
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Tenth Avenue North
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Steven Curtis Chapman
SONG OF THE YEAR song title; writer; publisher (award to the writer and publisher)
“Give Me Your Eyes”; Brandon Heath, Jason Ingram; Sitka 6 Music/Essential Music Publishing (ASCAP), Peertunes Ltd. (SESAC), Grange Hill Music (SESAC), Windsor Way (SESAC)
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Brandon Heath
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Natalie Grant
GROUP OF THE YEAR
Casting Crowns
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
Bernie Herms
RAP/HIP HOP RECORDED SONG (song; album; artist; writer; label)
“Do Yo Thang”; The Yearbook; KJ-52; Jonah Sorrentino; BEC Recordings/Uprok
ROCK RECORDED SONG
“Lost”; End Of Silence; Red; Jasen Rauch, Rob Graves, Chad Cates; Essential Records
ROCK/CONTEMPORARY RECORDED SONG
“Washed By The Water”; The Heat; NEEDTOBREATHE; Bear Rinehart, Bo Rinehart; Atlantic Records
POP/CONTEMPORARY RECORDED SONG
“Give Me Your Eyes”; What If We; Brandon Heath; Brandon Heath, Jason Ingram; Reunion Records
INSPIRATIONAL RECORDED SONG
“A New Hallelujah”; A New Hallelujah; Michael W. Smith; Michael W. Smith, Debbie Smith, Paul Baloche; Reunion Records
SOUTHERN GOSPEL RECORDED SONG
“Reason Enough”; Dream On; Ernie Haase & Signature Sound; Ernie Haase, Joel Lindsey, Wayne Haun; Gaither Music Group
BLUEGRASS RECORDED SONG
“They’re Holding Up The Ladder”; We Are Family; Jeff & Sheri Easter, Lewis Family, Easter Brothers; Russell Easter, James Easter, Edd Easter; Daywind Records
COUNTRY RECORDED SONG
“I Wish”; How You Live Deluxe Edition; Point of Grace; Cindy Morgan, Phil Madeira; Word Records
URBAN RECORDED SONG
“Get Up”; The Sound; Mary Mary; Warryn Campbell, Erica Campbell, Tina Campbell, Eric Dawkins; Columbia Records, Integrity Music
TRADITIONAL GOSPEL RECORDED SONG
“Free At Last”; Down In New Orleans; The Blind Boys of Alabama; Traditional; Time Life Music
CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL RECORDED SONG
“How Great Is Our God”; How Great Is Our God; LaRue Howard; Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Ed Cash; EMI Gospel
WORSHIP SONG
“Mighty To Save”; Ben Fielding, Reuben Morgan; Hillsong Publishing
RAP/HIP HOP ALBUM (album; artist; producer; label)
Ordinary Dreamers; Group 1 Crew; Andy Anderson, Christopher Stevens, Sam Mizell; Fervent Records
ROCK ALBUM
Satisfied; DecembeRadio; Scotty Wilbanks; Slanted Records
ROCK/CONTEMPORARY ALBUM
Never Going Back To OK; The Afters; Dan Muckala; INO Records
POP/CONTEMPORARY ALBUM
Revelation; Third Day; Howard Benson; Essential Records
INSPIRATIONAL ALBUM
Great God Who Saves; Laura Story; Ed Cash; INO Records
SOUTHERN GOSPEL ALBUM
Lovin’ Life; Ernie Gaither Vocal Band; Bill Gaither, Guy Penrod, Marshall Hall, Wes Hampton; Gaither Music Group
BLUEGRASS ALBUM
We Are Family; Ricky Jeff & Sheri Easter, Lewis Family, Easter Brothers; Jeff Easter, Sheri Easter; Daywind Records
COUNTRY ALBUM
Around the Bend; Randy Travis; Kyle Lehning; Warner Bros. Records
URBAN ALBUM
The Fight of My Life; Kirk Franklin; Kirk Franklin; Zomba Gospel
TRADITIONAL GOSPEL ALBUM
Down In New Orleans; The Blind Boys of Alabama; Chris Goldsmith; Time Life Music, Integrity Music
CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL ALBUM
Change the World; Martha Munizzi; Aaron Lindsey, Israel Houghton; Martha Munizzi Music
INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian; Various; Harry Gregson-Williams; Walt Disney Records
CHILDREN’S MUSIC ALBUM
Absolute Modern Worship for Kids 4; Various; Chance Scoggins; Fervent Records
SPANISH LANGUAGE ALBUM
Rescatame; Seventh Day Slumber; Alejandro Allen, Susana Allen; BEC Recordings
SPECIAL EVENT ALBUM
Passion: God of This City; Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall, David Crowder*Band, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill, Fee, Matt Redman; Nathan Nockels; Sparrow Records, sixsteps Records
CHRISTMAS ALBUM
Peace on Earth; Casting Crowns; Mark Hall, Mark A. Miller; Beach Street
PRAISE & WORSHIP ALBUM
A New Hallelujah; Michael W. Smith; Michael W. Smith; Reunion Records
MUSICAL (title; creator; publisher (award given to creator)
God Bless the USA; Sue C. Smith, Joel Lindsey, Russell Mauldin; Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing
YOUTH/CHILDREN’S MUSICAL
An Island Christmas; Wayne Haun, Shelby Haun, Joel Lindsey; Lillenas Publishing Company
CHORAL COLLECTION
I’ll Say Yes; Carol Cymbala; Brooklyn Tabernacle Music
RECORDED MUSIC PACKAGING (product; art director; graphic artist; illustrator/photographer; label)
Revelation (Third Day); Tim Parker, Becka Blackburn; Tim Parker; David McClister, RW Sims; Essential Records
SHORT FORM MUSIC VIDEO (title; artist; director; producer; production company; label)
“Slow Fade”; Casting Crowns; John Erwin, Andy Erwin; Erwin Brothers Motion Pictures; Beach Street
LONG FORM MUSIC VIDEO ( title; artist; director; producer; production company; label)
Alive and Transported; TobyMac; Eric Welch; Tameron Hedge, Dan Pitts; Broken Poet Productions; ForeFront Records
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