This Thing Called Dove
04-18-2007
by Kevan Breitinger

As the 38^th Annual GMA Dove Awards wind up to the final revelations on Wednesday, April 25^th, you may be wondering, like me, just how do these things go down? Who decides on the nominations, how are the winners chosen, and how long has all this been going on? Well, kick back and let me tell you the tale of the Doves. It’s got more twists and turns than you might expect.

To begin at the beginning, the Dove Awards are officially the Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove Awards, produced by the GMA since 1969, making it the longest running televised awards ceremony honoring achievements in the Christian music field. The Gospel Music Association itself was founded in 1964, to “serve as the face and voice of the Christian/Gospel music community, and is dedicated to exposing, promoting, and celebrating the gospel through music of all styles including pop, rock, praise and worship, black gospel, R&B, hip-hop, southern gospel, country, and more.”

Whew! Let’s break it down. Who are they? The GMA community consists of about 4,000 members of the CM industry, including artists, agents, church leaders, managers, publicists, radio personnel, record company execs, promoters, retailers, and songwriters.  There are three levels of membership within the Association: Professional membership is for those who earn a portion of their income from gospel music; Associate members simply have an interest in gospel music; and the College Student members have an interest and are also full time college students. It is these members who vote on the Doves, although the process is a bit more complicated than that. Naturally.

The balloting process consists of three steps: an entry form and two subsequent ballots. Professional members, record companies, and print music companies submit products for Dove consideration. The GMA Dove Award Screening Committee, made up of about 80 industry leaders, seeks to verify the nominated person or product and determine the appropriate category. Once this list is compiled, the First Ballot is mailed out to professional members only.

After the first ballot results are tabulated (by GMA’s accounting firm of more than 20 years), the five entries in each category with the highest votes (except Song of the Year which is given ten spots) are announced at the GMA Dove Awards press conference as the final nominees.

This leads to the Second/Final Ballot, which is mailed out to all members. Professional members vote in all categories, while associate and college student members vote on the Final Ballot in the Artist, New Artist, Song, Male Vocalist, Female Vocalist and Group of the Year categories only. The accountants tabulate the results and these are the winners announced at the GMA Dove Awards, which is always held in Nashville, Tennessee.

It would seem that GMA had nailed down their procedures and standards tightly enough to omit the possibility of any confusion, but that isn’t the case.  Some critics have charged that the process is tainted by virtue of the GMA voters’ own industry connections.  However, GMA supporters argue that as Christians our own ethical code would eliminate any problematic bias.

Others see the Doves as too conservative, favoring traditional gospel and pop artists over the newer genres. Charges have been made that well-established acts enjoying heavy radio airplay dominate the awards, and you don’t have to go too far to find evidence in support of this position. Steven Curtis Chapman has won Songwriter of the Year 9 out of 10 years, and Male Vocalist of the Year 7 out of 12 times, some wins coming in years when he hadn’t even released new material.

The Dove Awards have not been as free of other controversies as one might hope either. The Blackwood Brothers, winners of 9 out of 14 Doves in 1971, were afterward accused of extensive campaigning, which violated no letter of the GMA bylaws but certainly challenged the spirit of the awards. The GMA Board found the charges significant enough to nullify the year’s entire process of awards, which is why the year 1971 is one of only two years since 1969’s inception in which you will find no awards listed. The other was 1979, when the Awards were first moved from September, during the National Quartet Convention, to April of 1980, to align forever after with Gospel Music Week (with the exception of 1999, when the Doves were moved to late March, and for that year only they were separated from Gospel Music Week).

The good news about all of these in and outs is what it reveals of our leaders’ tendency to complicate and confuse, yes, but ultimately, press forward after the Lord’s best.  In 1998, the GMA, concerned over some blatantly secular entries created some new guidelines to strengthen award standards. Prior to this, the only requirement was simply Christian retail store distribution. 13 entries were disqualified that year as being too secular, and some complained about the stringency of the new standards, which resulted in the rules being rescinded, allowing many groups disqualified in 1999 to come back and win in 2000.

While some might tend to use controversies and issues like those mentioned to step back and criticize the Christian community, as believers we must remember that no one is perfect but Christ.  The tragedy of the human condition was addressed and resolved on the cross. That’s why He came. It only remains tragic if we stop trying, if we throw our hands up in surrender and quit seeking His will and His righteousness.  Excellence will always be valuable no matter what business deals are made around us.  What does this convoluted tale of the Doves tell us? That we are all a work in process, that we must be looking ever upward for our Help.

When more than 3,000 industry people gather next week in Nashville, for more than 100 artist performances and educational seminars, they, and the process itself, will need our prayers. Some may be there with the wrong motives, or a very human agenda, and yes, like many of us the GMA has trouble at times traversing that thin line between business and ministry. It is not always easy to discern the difference in my own heart, let alone the hearts of others.  But that’s why we need Grace, for ourselves and for one another.