Bart Millard & Nichole Nordeman Receive
Songwriter of The Year Honors
Point Of Grace honored with the Partner In Song Award
More than 200 music industry leaders joined dozens
of Christian music's top stars, including Mercy
Me, Jaci Velasquez, Third Day, Warren Barfield, Point
Of Grace, Newsboys, Natalie Grant, Dottie Rambo, Plumb,
Mark Schultz, Avalon, Bebo Norman, ZoeGirl, Across The
Sky, Tony Rich and Matthew West
to celebrate the presentation of the Twenty-sixth Annual
ASCAP Christian Music Awards at a dinner held this evening
at Richland Country Club in Nashville, Tennessee.
This year's gala evening, hosted by ASCAP Senior
Vice President Connie Bradley, featured a Surfing GMA
theme. ASCAP Assistant Vice President Dan Keen joined
Bradley in presenting awards to the ASCAP writers and
publishers of the most performed Christian songs of
2003.
The evening's top writer and publisher awards
were: Songwriter of the Year: Bart Millard for "I
Can Only Imagine," "Word Of God Speak,"
and "Spoken For" and Nichole Nordeman for
"Holy," and "Legacy." Song of
the Year: "He Reigns" (written by Peter
Furler, published by EMI Music CMG Publishing). Christian
Publisher of the Year: EMI Music CMG Publishing for
"He Reigns," "Holy," "I
Will Be," "Legacy," "You Are
My King," "You Get Me," and "You're
My God."
Partner In Song, a newly created award, was presented
to Point Of Grace. The award recognizes Point Of Grace
for the passion and excellence with which they record
the works of Christian songwriters.
U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn, along with ASCAP
presented a special citation to The Gospel Music Association
on its 40th Anniversary.
Highlights of the evening were performances by new artists,
Abigail Washburn, No Other Name, The Annie Moses Band
and Dove Award nominee Bebo Norman
The planning and preparation of the evening's
events was directed by Dan Keen, joined by Gerilynn
Pearce, Marc Driskill, Michelle Goble-Peay, Chad Green
and Suzanne Lee, all from ASCAP's Nashville office.
Established in 1914, ASCAP is the world's largest
performing right organization, with more than 180,000
active composers, lyricist and music publisher members.
ASCAP is committed to protecting the rights of its members
by licensing and collecting royalties for the public
performance of their copyrighted works, and then distributing
these fees to the Society's members based on performances.
ASCAP's repertory spans the entire spectrum of music
- from pop to symphonic, rock to gospel, Latin to country
to jazz, rhythm and blues, theater, film and television
music. A Board of Directors governs ASCAP and is made
up solely of composers, writers and publishers, elected
by the membership.
