Recently in Gospel Music Week Category

There's some big changes afoot at the Gospel Music Association HQ, which are reported to be the result of the current economic downturn.

The Gospel Music Association announced yesterday that John Styll is stepping down as President, allowing "the Board to substitute a managerial level professional to oversee staff at the GMA office." Several other paid staff positions were eliminated earlier this year.

According to a press release, the GMA "Board of Directors approved a plan to return the association to a more volunteer-driven operation with a scaled down staff that will facilitate and coordinate GMA events and programs."

Along with that comes word that Gospel Music Week 2010 will see some changes as well. Word has it that the event will focus more on artist showcases and networking opportunities, and less on instructional seminars and tracks.

Even though I couldn't be at the Dove Awards last night, you can still have an insider's peek at the event, from my dear friend and music journalist, Paula Parker. Paula and her husband Mike write for a bunch of publications and are the owners of the website, BuddyHollywood.com.

The 40th Annual Dove Awards were handed out last Thursday, April 23. Here are a few photos from the event, which honored the best in Christian and gospel music:

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:

A lot of you have been asking why I didn't stay for the Doves this year.

I usually cover the event, but this year they moved the show from Wednesday to Thursday, which meant two extra days in Nashville. Since my roommate leaves on Wednesday afternoon, that would mean about $400 in hotel costs. I could have tried to move to another cheaper hotel, but then I'm scrambling for a ride to the event and then back to the hotel. Logistically, it's a nightmare. (Trust me, I've done it for years just trying to go back to my regular hotel.) This year, I decided that I just couldn't afford it.

The irony is that although GMA announced that the show on Thursday this year, it didn't click with a lot of media folks, who booked flights home Thursday morning just like normal. So I don't know who all is going to actually be there. There are a lot of major media outlets who come in just for the Doves. But the normal GMA media outlets? We'll see who makes it.

Why the change in dates?