BMI Christian Music Awards Honor The Genre's Most Played Songs

Kirk Franklin's performances intertwine sermon and song.

Some of the night's other big winners included 2007 Trailblazers of Gospel honoree Yolanda Adams; prolific producer/songwriter Ed Cash; Urban Gospel star Kirk Franklin; premier producer, arranger and musician Jay Joyce; innovative songwriter/producer Kenny Greenberg; Gospel favorites Israel Houghton and Percy James Bady; songwriting heavyweight Fred Douglas Washington, Jr.; the Crabb Family's Gerald Crabb; hot new songwriter/artist Aaron Shust; producer/songwriter/author Matt Bronleewe; and brothers Henry, JoJo and Ringo Garza. Songwriters Marcia Henry, George Jordan, Sandy Knight, Doug McKelvey and Kevin Keith Walker, along with Day of Fire's Greg Hionis, songwriter/producers Ian Eskelin and Liz Hooper, Sanctus Real producer Chris Stevens and Sanctus Real member Dan Gartley each took home their first BMI Christian Music Award.

Kirk Franklin helps the ladies in his stellar choir down the stairs.

Publishers winning multiple awards were BMG Music Group (Bridge Building Music/Careers-BMG Music Publishing/Zomba Songs), Club Zoo Music, Inc., My Refuge Music, SWECS Music, EMI Music Publishing (EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc./Sparrow Song) and Gotee Music, Inc.

Songwriter of the Year Mark Hall performs award-winning song "Praise You in this Storm."

Broadcast Music,Inc.® (BMI) is an American performing right organization that represents more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and publishers in all genres of music. For more than 65 years, BMI has represented the most popular and beloved music from around the world, a vast repertoire that includes more than 6.5 million works. The non-profit-making corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.