June 3, 2003

PRESS CONTACT:
Michelle Goble-Peay Nashville Director of Media Relations (615)742-5000

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

This year’s gala evening, hosted by ASCAP Senior Vice President Connie Bradley, featured a summer theme, highlighted by the steel drum, 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.”

A special award was presented to Amy Grant to commemorate her twenty-fifth anniversary of ASCAP membership and for twenty-five 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.

Complete list of winners...>>

The planning and preparation of the evening’s events was directed by Dan Keen, joined by Carrie Bryant, 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 rights organization, with over 160,000 active composer, 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. ASCAP’s Board of Directors is made up solely of writers and publishers, elected by the membership.