Brandon Lake, Phil Wickham and Katy Nichole Among Most-Nominated Ahead of 54th Annual GMA Dove Awards

With 11 nominations, Brandon Lake leads the 2023 GMA Dove Award nominations. Phil Wickham and Katy Nichole also made this year’s leader board with five and four nods, respectively. Additional top nominees include nine-time K-LOVE Fan Award recipient Lauren Daigle and New Artist of the Year contender Naomi Raine (Maverick City Music) with three nominations each.

WATCH NOW: 54th Annual Dove Awards Nominee Announcement

Lake’s nominations reflect the diversity of his artistry as an in-demand songwriter, collaborator and worship leader. Up for Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year (Artist), the three-time K-LOVE Fan Award winner co-wrote four of the five songs represented in this year’s Worship Recorded Song of the Year category: Brooke Ligertwood’s “Honey in the Rock,” Maverick City Music’s “Fear Is Not My Future,” Phil Wickham’s “This Is Our God” and his own “Gratitude.” Additionally, “Gratitude” is set to go head-to-head with “Fear Is Not My Future” and “Same God,” which he co-penned for Elevation Worship, in the coveted Song of the Year bracket. He’s also nominated for his collaboration with hip-hop titan KB on “Graves,” which received nods for Rap/Hip-Hop Recorded Song of the Year and Short Form Music Video of the Year (Performance).

Wickham, Lake’s “Summer Worship Nights” tourmate, is also nominated for Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year (Artist). In addition to “This Is Our God” — his fourth consecutive No. 1 — being up for Worship Recorded Song of the Year, two other selections he co-penned were honored. These include MercyMe’s “Then Christ Came,” the radio version of which he’s featured on; and Chris Tomlin’s “Holy Forever,” which earned Wickham one of two GRAMMY® nominations earlier this year.

Nichole picked up four nods, including New Artist of the Year, Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year for her full-length debut, “Jesus Changed My Life,” Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year for her second consecutive chart-topping hit, “God Is In This Story (feat. Big Daddy Weave)” and Song of the Year for her debut single, “In Jesus Name (God of Possible).”

“One nomination is crazy enough… But four?! This is truly unbelievable, and wow am I honored!” Nichole shared on socials after receiving the news. “I’m wildly grateful, GMA Dove Awards. This is a dream! God is so good.”

Outside of the perennial music honorees, this year, faith-based TV gets its own bracket. The Television Series of the Year category joins the veteran Feature Film of the Year category (formerly Inspirational Film of the Year), whose 2023 nominees include K-LOVE Films’ own “Family Camp.”

Honorees across a total of 37 categories were announced this morning (Aug. 9, 2023) ahead of the 54th annual GMA Dove Awards, which will take place Oct. 17, 2023, in Nashville. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Joyful Echo.” Jason Crabb, Jordan Feliz, Danny Gokey and Natalie Grant, among other artists, were on-hand to announce nominees during a livestream hosted by the Gospel Music Association.

The 2023 GMA Dove Awards will air exclusively on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and the TBN app Friday, Oct. 20, 2023, at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET.