Winners Announced For 52nd Annual Dove Awards

The 52nd Annual GMA Dove Awards were held on Tuesday night (Oct. 19) in Nashville, Tennessee, before airing Friday night (Oct. 22) on TBN.

CeCe Winans and Jason Ingram led the night with four awards. Winans took home Gospel Artist of the Year and Ingram won Songwriter of the Year (Non-Artist). For King & Country notched three awards, including the coveted Artist of the Year. Chris Brown of Elevation Worship and Steven Furtick also won three awards each, including Song of the Year for “The Blessing.” Maverick City Music also claimed New Artist of the Year and Contemporary Artist of the Year went to We The Kingdom. Carrie Underwood won Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year for her collaboration with Winans, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”

“I’ve been doing music a long time. This means so much to me because I’ve seen God move in my family in miraculous ways. He is who we hope He is,” said Ed Cash from We The Kingdom.

The music community reunited after last year’s virtual ceremony with live performances from Lauren Daigle, co-host Natalie Grant, and a closing rendition of Worship Recorded Song of the Year, “Graves Into Gardens” by Elevation Worship. A handful of special collaborations also took the stage, including KB with Matt Redman, Jonathan McReynolds with Mali Music, and Dante Bowe with Kelontae Gavin.

Chairman of the GMA Board Roy Morgan presented Jackie Patillo with the first-time Dove Award for Distinguished Leadership. Morgan also announced the new Dove will be an annual award and will be named The Jackie Patillo Leadership Award in the years to come.

“I am speechless. And so honored and so grateful. This is a calling y’all. This is a mission. This is not a job. Even though some days are hard. But, I love you. And I’m grateful,” shared Patillo. “I believe in unity in Christ. I believe we can celebrate our diversity in ways that will show the world that they’ll know we are Christians by our love. I believe in the power of God through the Word and through the message in your songs. So thank you. I’m so grateful and I’m awestruck over this.”

Partial List of 2021 Dove Award Winners:
Artist of the Year: For King & Country
New Artist of the Year: Maverick City Music
Contemporary Christian Artist of the Year: We The Kingdom
Song of the Year: “The Blessing”
Worship Recorded Song of the Year: “Graves Into Gardens” – Elevation Worship ft. Brandon Lake
Songwriter of the Year (Artist): Brandon Lake
Southern Gospel Artist of the Year: Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
Gospel Artist of the Year: CeCe Winans
Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year: “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” – Carrie Underwood ft. Cece Winans
Inspirational Film of the Year: A Week Away
Rap/Hip-Hop Album of the Year: His Glory Alone – KB
Southern Gospel Album of the Year: Change Is Coming – Joseph Habedank