On Thursday, the Nashville-based Gospel Music Association (GMA) released nominations for the 51st annual Dove Awards. Major highlights included singer Zach Williams and the band For King & Country, who each received the majority of the nominations with five each.
And there was a first time nominee — Kanye West.
West is nominated for three awards including rap, hip-hop album of the year from his 2019 album “Jesus is King.” Upon release, the album “dominated the Christian and gospel charts,” according to USA Today.
Other nominations include traditional gospel album of the year for “Jesus is Born” by his Sunday Service Choir and “Follow God,” for rap, hip-hop recorded song of the year.
According to Variety, other first-time nominees are We The Kingdom (up for three nominations), Unspoken (two), and Gloria Gaynor (two).
This year there are also 13 songs competing for song of the year with majority of them having multiple songwriters.
“The GMA is honored to continue its legacy of celebrating our diverse creative community and the music that moves us and ministers to us all, especially during these trying times,” said the president of the GMA, Jackie Patillo, according to Billboard.
Viewers can expect a virtual awards show airing Oct. 30 on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) with pre-recorded acceptance speeches and performances from nominated artists, according to USA Today.
A full list of the nominations can be found here on the Dove Awards official website.