Artists gathering at the Christian Music Awards include (l-r) Third Day's Tai Anderson, Mac Powell, ZOEgirl's Kristin Swinford, Alisa Girard, ASCAP's Assistant V.P. Dan Keen, ZOEgirl's Chrissy Conway, James Katina, and Third Day's Mark Lee and Brad Avery.

More than 200 music industry leaders joined dozens of Christian music's top stars, including Audio Adrenaline, Caedmon's Call, Paul Colman Trio, Newsboys, Out of Eden, Ginny Owens, Point of Grace, Rachael Lampa, Kyle Matthews, Mercy Me, Bebo Norman, Selah, Sonicflood, The Katinas, Third Day, and Zoegirl to celebrate the presentation of the 25th Annual ASCAP Christian Music Awards at a dinner held on June 2nd at The Factory in Franklin, Tennessee.

The gala evening, hosted by ASCAP Senior Vice President Connie Bradley, featured a summer theme, highlighted by the steel drum band, Deepgrove. ASCAP Assistant Vice President Dan Keen joined Bradley in presenting awards to the ASCAP writers and publishers of the most performed Christian songs of 2002.

The evening's top writer and publisher awards were: Songwriter of the Year Bart Millard for "I Can Only Imagine." Song of the Year "Show Me Your Glory," written by Tai Anderson, Brad Avery, David Carr, Mark Lee and Mac Powell, published by New Spring Publishing, Inc. and Vandura 2500 Songs; Christian Publisher of the Year Brentwood Benson's New Spring Publishing for "Cover Me," "I Don't Want To Go," "It's Alright," "Psalm 112," "Show Me Your Glory," "Surrender" and "You Are The Way."

Wise Child's Casey Driessen and Luke Bulla brought the crowd to their feet jamming on the old gospel classic, "Workin' On A Building."

A special award was presented to Amy Grant to commemorate her 25th anniversary of ASCAP membership and for 25 years as a Christian songwriter and artist. Wise Child's Luke Bulla and Casey Driessen honored Grant with a musical tribute.

Highlights of the evening were performances by Sparrow Records newcomer Jaydn Maria and Word Records newcomer Across The Sky. Curb Records artist Selah capped off the evening with a stirring performance from their current album Press On.