More than 200 music industry leaders joined dozens of Christian music’s top artists, including Audio Adrenaline, Caedmon’s Call, Paul Colman, Newsboys, Out of Eden, Ginny Owens, Point of Grace, Rachael Lampa, Kyle Matthews, MercyMe, Bebo Norman, 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 2 at The Factory in Franklin, TN.

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: “I Can Only Imagine” by Bart Millard

Song of the Year: “Show Me Your Glory” by Tai Anderson, Brad Avery, David Carr, Mark Lee, & Mac Powell

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 Jadyn Maria and Warner Christian's new band Across the Sky. Curb Records trio Selah capped off the evening with a stirring performance from their current album Press On.

By Robert Parrish