2008 Dove Award Winners

The 2008 GMA Dove Awards winners were announced last night during an awards ceremony at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville marking the end of this year’s GMA Week. Was I there? No. Did I want to be there? Sort of. Will I be there next year? God only knows. But I would definitely want to be someone’s date to the Dove Awards so I could wear a cool dress and, uh, have a date. Alas, my dating life is not the topic of this post, so without further ado (and foolish asides), I bring you the winners of the 2008 Dove Awards (of course you could just as easily read about them here you would miss my amusing banter)…

Song of the Year went to “East to West” a song off Casting Crowns‘ latest album, The Altar and the Door. Casting Crowns also picked up an award for Group of the Year. The only female nominated for Songwriter of the Year, Cindy Morgan, took that award home while one of the only other ladies to win an award, Natalie Grant, won for Female Vocalist of the Year. Chris Tomlin the reigning king of Vocalist of the Year won again, but TobyMac was pronounced Aritst of the Year.

While all these artists should be congratulated for their hard work and recognition, there were two wins that really touched my heart–Producer of the Year Ian Eskelin and New Artist of the Year Brandon Heath. Having interviewed both Eskelin (read “Creative Output” and “Making Love”) and Heath (read “Missional Musician”), I found both men to be kind, godly, and dedicated artists. Ian Eskelin is truly one of my favorite producers (and musicians) and I enjoy Brandon Heath’s singer/songwriter style. Congrats, guys!

Although I still think that All Star United’s cheeky “Song of the Year” should have been nominated–I mean, how funny would that be?