The 58th ceremony returns to Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena next October, following a year in which U.S. streams of Christian and gospel music rose 18.5%.
By EEW Magazine Online News Editors
CeCe Winans accepts the Dove Award for Gospel Worship Recorded Song of the Year for “More Than This” at the 57th Annual GMA Dove Awards, Oct. 6, 2026, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Photo: Gospel Music Association
The Gospel Music Association announced Friday that the 58th Annual GMA Dove Awards will be held Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2027, at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. The early announcement comes as Christian and gospel music enjoy a period of rapid growth. It also lands two weeks after the broadcast of this year’s ceremony, where CeCe Winans, billed as the most-awarded female gospel artist of all time, added to her record total.
Winans won Gospel Worship Recorded Song of the Year at the Oct. 6 ceremony for “More Than This,” featuring Todd Dulaney. It was her second consecutive win in the category. The award brings her career total to 34 Doves, based on the 33 her team reported after last year’s ceremony.
Presented by the GMA since 1969, the Dove Awards are the Christian and gospel music industry’s top honors. GMA professional members select the nominees, and this year’s slate was drawn from more than 2,800 submitted entries in categories spanning gospel, worship, pop, rock, hip-hop, Southern gospel, bluegrass and Spanish-language music.
The crowd at Bridgestone Arena during a performance at the 57th Annual GMA Dove Awards, Oct. 6, 2026, in Nashville. The ceremony moved to the larger arena in 2025 after 11 years at Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena. Photo: Gospel Music Association
The ceremony has outgrown its old home. After 11 years at Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena, the Doves moved in 2025 to Bridgestone Arena, home of the NHL’s Nashville Predators. “The reality is, we are growing!” GMA President Jackie Patillo said when the move was announced. Presales for the 2027 show open Oct. 28, about six weeks earlier than last year’s December presale.
That growth tracks with the genre’s momentum on streaming platforms. U.S. on-demand audio streams of Christian and gospel music rose 18.5% in 2025 over the prior year, according to data firm Luminate, even as U.S. streams of recently released music declined overall. Luminate has described the genre’s audience as younger and streaming-driven, roughly 60% female and 30% millennial.
This year’s winners reflected a genre increasingly crossing into the mainstream. Tasha Cobbs Leonard won Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year for “Church,” her collaboration with John Legend, along with Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year for “TASHA.” Jonathan McReynolds and “American Idol” winner Jamal Roberts took Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year for “Still (Live).” Country star Lainey Wilson shared Country/Roots Recorded Song of the Year with Brandon Lake for “The Jesus I Know Now.”
Tasha Cobbs Leonard, joined by her husband, Kenneth Leonard Jr., accepts one of her two Dove Awards at the 57th Annual GMA Dove Awards, Oct. 6, 2026, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Photo: Gospel Music Association
Lisa Knowles-Smith & The Brown Singers received Traditional Gospel Album of the Year for “Revival: Live in Dallas,” and Red Worship won Gospel Worship Album of the Year for “Live at Redemption Church.”
The ceremony also paid tribute to Richard Smallwood, the “Total Praise” composer who died Dec. 30, 2025, at 77. McReynolds, Kierra Sheard and Donald Lawrence joined Maurette Brown Clark and Ted Winn, original members of Smallwood’s ensemble Vision, for a medley honoring his music.
Kierra Sheard-Kelly performs during the tribute to the late Richard Smallwood at the 57th Annual GMA Dove Awards, Oct. 6, 2026, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, with Donald Lawrence, left. Photo: Gospel Music Association
Held under the theme “Together For One” and hosted for a fourth straight year by Tauren Wells, the 2026 show introduced an honor reaching beyond the music industry. The Community Impact Award for Peace & Purpose, presented by Jesus Calling, went to God Behind Bars, a nonprofit that brings worship and discipleship to incarcerated people and their families.
In the night’s top categories, Phil Wickham was named Artist of the Year, Jamie MacDonald won New Artist of the Year, and Josiah Queen’s “Dusty Bibles” took Song of the Year. Wickham, Queen and Lake led all artists with three awards each.
See GMA’s full list of winners.