Dove Balloting Process

The process includes these four rounds: submission, screening, first ballot and second ballot.
(1) In April/May, an entry is submitted through our online form.
(2) In June, the Dove Screening Committee convenes to examine each submission and verify it meets eligibility.
(3) In July, GMA Professional Members vote to determine the official Dove nominees.
(4) In August, all GMA members vote to determine the Dove winners.

Each year’s eligibility is based on release dates from May 1 to April 30 preceding the Dove Awards year. For example, the 2024 awards eligibility period is May 1, 2023 through April 30, 2024.

The submission process is entered by either one of these two methods.
(1) A previously approved Dove Registered Entity (DRE) will be invited to submit in April. Click here to apply.
Or
(2) An eligible GMA Professional Member will be invited to submit in May. Click here to join.

GMA must receive each submission from one previously approved Dove Registered Entity, or three or more of its Professional Members, for that entry to advance to the screening round.

Organizations who represent two or more commercially supported artists/songwriters/films are invited to apply for status as a Dove Registered Entity (DRE). To be commercially supported, they must be currently in the marketplace with releases in the past 2 eligibility periods.

Click here to complete your application by February 28. An active GMA membership is required to apply. Submissions by a DRE will advance to the first ballot, provided they meet requirements under "Rules & Definitions" and also "Policies & Procedures."

This status only pertains to the GMA Dove Award submissions and has no effect on screening/ voting/ performing or anything else to do with GMA or the Dove Awards. It also holds no weight to anyone in the industry, or even GMA staff outside of the balloting team. The main submission round is during April when Professional members of the GMA submit. We only have the DRE submission rounds to help make it easier for the labels or large companies that submit hundreds of entries to the Doves rather than the typical 3-5 entries that most members need to submit.

Each year GMA receives more than 4,000 submissions, and we want to serve you well. Separate time periods for organizations and individuals to submit helps our team better assist with your questions and issues.

"Professional Member Rule of Three"

In all categories, the GMA must receive each entry from three or more of its Professional Members for that entry to move forward to screening. Those three members can all be any active Professional Member, including those from the same Company or Professional Group.

Please make sure you and your other two members have discussed what entries you are submitting in which categories. You can use our Submission Checklist to prepare. 

**To be eligible to submit entries, you must be an active Professional Member by the deadline titled "Membership Cut-Off for Submitting Entries" on Balloting schedule . Your membership must be active and cannot expire anytime during the round.

We require all entries, that do not have a whitesheet or metadata, to send in 1 official distributed copy of the project to verify credits. 

Only 1 of the 3 professional members needs to send product.

For albums that you have submitted in multiple categories, i.e. the album in division 3 and a few tracks in division 2, we only need 1 copy to satisfy all the categories.

Do not send homemade/ burned copies. These will be thrown away.

Mailing address is listed on the shipping/ thank you page after you have completed submissions. You can print off the shipping page and include it in your package but that is not required.

All physical product needs to be at the GMA office by the deadline titled "Product Deadline" on Balloting schedule.

Albums must be comprised of no less than five songs and must have first week sales tracked by either Christian SoundScan or general market SoundScan during the current eligibility period.

Recorded songs must be included on a qualified album (see above) or must be released to national radio as a single during the same eligibility period.

The Dove Screening Committee involves more than 50 industry leaders across all genres and professional experience, with intentional representation across multiple demographics. This group convenes in June to examine each submission and verify it meets eligibility. The committee follows requirements under "Rules & Definitions" and also "Policies & Procedures."

Entries are submitted for consideration. Entries that meet all eligibility requirements are included in the first ballot presented to GMA Professional Members. The results of this ballot determine nominations.

Submitting in March-May is to enter a project or artist for consideration. Voting in June-August is to determine nominees and winners.

To achieve a more well-rounded picture of the year in Christian music, some categories are based on submissions from the industry, and other categories (Artist, Song and Songwriter) are based on metrics for sales and streaming as reported by Nielsen Music Connect.

Craft Committee members are specialists with extensive professional experience in the craft they review. Utilizing those who know the craft best helps ensure excellence and guards against egregious omissions.

Visit CMTA and click the “SoundScan” button, or visit ISRC to obtain ISRC and UPC codes required to register product with SoundScan.  To be eligible, product can be registered with either Christian SoundScan or mainstream SoundScan.

With only a very few performance slots available in the allotted show time, our production team makes those invitations to our nominees.

Following the Schedule below, you must be an active GMA member by the corresponding membership deadline to be eligible to receive the email invitation to vote.

All eligible members will be invited by email to vote on the opening day of each voting round according to the Schedule. Your email invitation will include credentials and a link to log into the voting site. The voting website is separate from the GMA website.

After a submission is confirmed eligible by the Screening Committee, it goes onto the first ballot for voting by GMA Professional Members in June. Results from this first round of voting determine the official Dove nominees. Those nominees are announced in late July.

After the Nominees are announced, they will go on the second (and final) ballot for voting by GMA Professional Members in August. Winners will be announced live at the 55th Annual GMA Dove Awards scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024.

Eligibility Period:  May 1, 2023 – April 30, 2024

February 28, 2024 Dove Registered Entity Application Cut-Off Deadline for organizations to apply for Dove Registered Entity (DRE) status for 2024 Dove Awards. Applications after this date will not be processed. GMA will notify all applicants of their status by March 1.

March 19, 2024 Dove Registered Entity Submission Active Approved Dove Registered Entities can begin submitting releases and recordings for consideration for 2024 Dove Awards.

March 26, 2024 Dove Registered Entity Entries Due Deadline for approved Dove Registered Entities to submit releases and recordings for consideration for the 2024 Dove Awards. DRE Submissions are due by 8:00 pm CT on this date.

April 16, 2024 Membership Cut-Off for Submitting Entries *Not an approved Dove Registered Entity with the GMA?  In order to be eligible to submit releases and recordings for consideration for the 2024 Dove Awards, you must be a Professional Member of the GMA by this date.

April 23, 2024 Professional Member Submission Process Active Opportunity for Professional Members of the GMA to submit entries for consideration for the 2024 Dove Awards.

April 30, 2024 Professional Member Entries Due Professional Member entries are due by this date. Submission opportunity will close at 8:00 pm CT.

May 7, 2024 Dove Registered Entity Verification Active Listings of all submissions received will be posted for review to make sure all eligible recordings and releases are included.

May 10, 2024 Product Deadline For projects without whitesheet or metadata files, physical product must be at the GMA office by this date.

May 14, 2024 Dove Registered Entity Verification Due Any changes or submissions by Dove Registered Entities are due by 8:00 pm CT on this date.

May 16, 2024 Product Screening GMA appointed committees meet to review products, approve category placement, and eligibility of all submissions made, plus add glaring omissions. All approved releases and recordings will appear in their appropriate categories on the first ballot.  (Submissions can be moved among genre categories or removed from eligibility.)

June 18, 2024 Membership Cut-Off for Voting on First Ballot In order to be eligible to vote on the first Dove Awards ballot, you must be an active Professional Member in the GMA database by this date.  The first ballot determines nominees.

June 25, 2024 First Ballot Open First Dove Awards ballot is delivered to current GMA Professional Members for voting via email.  All voting takes place online.

July 2, 2024 First Ballot Closes All votes must be cast by 8:00 pm CT on this date in order to be counted.

July 24, 2024 Nominees Announced at Press Conference Press Conference to announce the 2024 Dove Award nominees, as determined by the first ballot. To be held at Lipscomb University.

July 26, 2024 Membership Cut-Off for Voting on Second Ballot In order to be eligible to vote on the second Dove Awards ballot, you must be an active Professional Member in the GMA database by this date.  The second ballot determines the recipients of the Dove Awards.

August 1, 2024 Second Ballot Open Second Dove Awards ballot is delivered to current GMA Professional Members for voting. All voting takes place online.

August 8, 2024 Second Ballot Closes All votes must be cast by 8:00 pm CT on this date in order to be counted.

October 1, 2024 55th Annual GMA Dove Awards Presentation of the 55th Annual Dove Awards from Allen Arena at Lipscomb University.

ALL DATES AND TIMES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE

Division I
1.  Song of the Year
2.  Songwriter of the Year (Artist)
3.  Songwriter of the Year (Non-Artist)
4.  Artist of the Year
5.  New Artist of the Year
6.  Producer of the Year

Division II
7.  Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year
8.  Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year
9.  Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year
10. Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year
11. Southern Gospel Recorded Song of the Year
12. Bluegrass/Country/Roots Recorded Song of the Year
13. Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year
14. Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year
15. Gospel Worship Recorded Song of the Year
16. Spanish Language Recorded Song of the Year
17. Spanish Language Worship Recorded Song of the Year
18. Worship Recorded Song of the Year
19. Children’s Recorded Song of the Year
20. Christmas Recorded Song of the Year

Division III
21. Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year
22. Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year
23. Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year
24. Inspirational Album of the Year
25. Southern Gospel Album of the Year
26. Bluegrass/Country/Roots Album of the Year
27. Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year
28. Traditional Gospel Album of the Year
29. Gospel Worship Album of the Year
30. Spanish Language Album of the Year
31. Worship Album of the Year
32. Christmas/Special Event Album of the Year

Division IV
33. Musical/Choral Collection of the Year
34. Recorded Music Packaging of the Year
35. Short Form Music Video of the Year (Concept) 
36. Short Form Music Video of the Year (Performance)
37. Long Form Music Video of the Year
38. Feature Film of the Year
39. Television Series of the Year

Rules and Definitions

Espanol - Rules and Definitions

Policies and Procedures

Espanol - Policies and Procedures

SONG of the YEAR
DIVISION I / Category 1
Dove Awards are presented to the songwriter(s) and publisher(s).

ARTIST/NON-ARTIST
SONGWRITER of the YEAR
DIVISION I / Categories 2-3
Dove Awards are presented to the songwriter.

ARTIST of the YEAR
DIVISION I / Category 4
Dove Awards are presented to the artist and record label.

NEW ARTIST of the YEAR
DIVISION I / Category 5
Dove Awards are presented to the artist and record label.

PRODUCER of the YEAR
DIVISION I / Category 6
Dove Awards are presented to the producer or production team.

RECORDED SONG of the YEAR
DIVISION II / Categories 7–20
Dove Awards are presented to the artist, featured artist(s) and songwriter(s).

ALBUM of the YEAR
DIVISION III / Categories  21-32
Dove Awards are presented to the artist (if prominent on the album) and the producer(s).

MUSICAL/
CHORAL COLLECTION of the YEAR
DIVISION IV / Category 33
Dove Awards are presented to the creator(s), arranger(s), and orchestrator(s).

RECORDED MUSIC PACKAGING of the YEAR
DIVISION  IV / Category 34 
Dove Awards are presented to the art director(s), graphic artist(s), illustrator(s), and photographer(s).

SHORT FORM/LONG FORM
MUSIC VIDEO of the YEAR
DIVISION  IV / Category 35-37
Dove Awards are presented to the artist, featured artist(s), director(s), and producer(s).

FEATURE FILM/ TELEVISION SERIES of the YEAR
DIVISION  IV / Category 38-39 
Dove Awards are presented to the director(s) and producer(s).