The GMA Dove Awards, Christian music's top honor, trace back to a single idea from gospel songwriter Bill Gaither at a Gospel Music Association board meeting in 1968. Gaither proposed an award represented by a dove, a nod to the Holy Spirit's descent at Jesus' baptism. Gospel singer Les Beasley named the awards, and designer Bob McConnell sketched the bronze dove statuette still handed out today.
The first ceremony was held in October 1969 at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, honoring Southern Gospel music exclusively. By 1971, the awards had relocated to Nashville, where they've been held nearly every year since. That year's ceremony was later invalidated over ballot-stuffing allegations involving the Blackwood Brothers - the only Dove Awards year the GMA doesn't officially recognize.
The show moved from autumn to spring starting in 1980 and got its first television broadcast in 1984 on the Christian Broadcasting Network. As Contemporary Christian Music grew through the 1980s and '90s, so did the Dove Awards' categories, expanding well beyond Southern Gospel to include pop, rock, rap, worship, and Latin music.
A pivotal moment came in 1998, when the GMA tightened eligibility rules to require nominees' lyrics be clearly rooted in Christian faith, following debate over Amy Grant's Behind the Eyes winning a Dove the year before. The stricter rules disqualified 13 entries in 1999 before being softened again.
Now in its sixth decade, the Dove Awards have grown to more than 40 categories and moved to Nashville's Bridgestone Arena in 2025 - a long way from that first small gathering in Memphis, but still built around the same dove.
That legacy continues this year. The GMA has announced the nominees for the 57th Annual GMA Dove Awards, with Phil Wickham leading all male artists at nine nominations and CeCe Winans topping the female field with seven. They're joined in the night's top category, Artist of the Year, by Brandon Lake, Josiah Queen, and Lauren Daigle.
Nominees were selected from more than 2,800 entries submitted by GMA Professional Members, under this year's theme, "Together For One." Tauren Wells returns to host for a fourth consecutive year when the ceremony airs from Bridgestone Arena on October 6, broadcasting on TBN October 9. Six decades after that first Memphis gathering, the Dove Awards remain what Gaither originally envisioned - Christian music honoring itself, together.
