The 57th GMA Dove Awards have filled out their bill with a second announcement of performers and presenters, three weeks before the ceremony. The show runs on 6 October at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, its second year in the building.
The headline addition is a tribute rather than a performance slot. Richard Smallwood will be honoured in a segment featuring Jonathan McReynolds, Kierra Sheard and Donald Lawrence, joined by original members of Smallwood's ensemble Vision, including Maurette Brown Clark and Ted Winn. Reuniting an ensemble's original lineup for a live tribute is a heavier piece of staging than an awards show usually attempts.
Jamie MacDonald, Naomi Raine and Hulvey were also added as performers. They join the previously confirmed Anne Wilson, Chosen Road, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Tauren Wells and TobyMac, which gives the night a spread from bluegrass gospel through contemporary worship to the format's biggest crossover name.
The presenter list grew by seven. Bart Millard of MercyMe, Terrian, CAIN, Moriah, Jen Lilley, Kelontae Gavin and CalledOut were named in this round, after an earlier group taking in Anthony Brown, CeCe Winans, for KING + COUNTRY, Julie Chen Moonves, Karen Peck, Lisa Knowles-Smith and Sarai Rivera.
The broadcast arrangement is worth reading carefully, because the ceremony and the show are on different days. The awards are handed out on 6 October, but the programme airs exclusively on TBN and the TBN+ app on 9 October at 7:30pm and 10pm ET, simulcast on SiriusXM The Message, with an encore on TBN and TBN+ on 17 October. Anyone hoping to follow along live on the night is watching a room they cannot see.
The Doves sit at the point where gospel, worship and Nashville's mainstream overlap, which is why several names on the bill also turn up on country rails. Other ceremonies have been settling their own production details this season, from the 52nd American Music Awards publishing a 50-category slate to Waylon Jennings being honoured in Hollywood. Ceremony dates are tracked on award watch.
The facts
- The 57th GMA Dove Awards take place on 6 October 2026 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
- It is the ceremony's second year at that venue.
- Jamie MacDonald, Naomi Raine and Hulvey were added as performers.
- A Richard Smallwood tribute features Jonathan McReynolds, Kierra Sheard and Donald Lawrence.
- Original members of Smallwood's ensemble Vision take part, including Maurette Brown Clark and Ted Winn.
- Bart Millard, Terrian, CAIN, Moriah, Jen Lilley, Kelontae Gavin and CalledOut join as presenters.
- The show airs on TBN and TBN+ on 9 October at 7:30pm and 10pm ET.
- It is simulcast on SiriusXM The Message, with a TBN encore on 17 October.
How this checks out
Single source
Reported by a single outlet
Only one outlet has reported it so far, so it stays a single source.
Cited sources 1
Every outlet that reported this, linked to what it published. Equal credits, in alphabetical order.