Lisa Knowles-Smith and Darrel Walls topped the winners list at the 2026 Stellar Gospel Music Awards, taped Saturday, August 15 at Charlotte's Spectrum Center and hosted by Kirk Franklin. Knowles-Smith's album with The Brown Singers, Revival: Live in Dallas, picked up the Albertina Walker Female Artist of the Year prize and Duo/Chorus Group of the Year, while Walls took home two trophies of his own for Heart of Mine, winning Artist of the Year and Contemporary Male Artist of the Year.
The Stellar Awards run through dozens of categories in a single ceremony, from Choir of the Year and Praise and Worship Album of the Year down to radio honors like Top Market of the Year and Gospel Announcer of the Year. That range says something about the show's purpose: it works as a scorecard for gospel music across records, choirs and the radio stations that still play the genre on air, rather than just the artists topping streaming charts.
Elsewhere on the night, Tasha Cobbs Leonard received the Aretha Franklin Icon Award and Pastor Mike Jr. was given the Thomas A. Dorsey Most Notable Achievement Award, two honors reserved for artists the gospel world treats as elder statespeople rather than just chart contenders. Jonathan McReynolds won Male Artist of the Year for "Still (Live)" featuring Jamal Roberts, and the group Ablaze took New Artist of the Year for its self-titled project.
Album of the Year went to Vincent Bohanan & SOV for Live in New York, which tied with JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise's The Live Reunion: Washington, DC for Choir of the Year. Lecrae picked up Rap Hip Hop Gospel Album of the Year for Reconstruction, one more line in the mix on this year's award watch for gospel's rap and hip-hop wing alongside its traditional choir and praise-and-worship categories.
The full list ran to more than two dozen categories, but the coverage of Saturday's taping did not say whether the ceremony will air as a television special or stream later this year. That detail has not yet been announced.
The facts
- Ceremony taped August 15 at Charlotte's Spectrum Center
- Hosted by Kirk Franklin
- Lisa Knowles-Smith and The Brown Singers won Female Artist and Duo/Chorus Group of the Year for Revival: Live in Dallas
- Darrel Walls won Artist of the Year and Contemporary Male Artist of the Year for Heart of Mine
- Tasha Cobbs Leonard received the Aretha Franklin Icon Award
- Pastor Mike Jr. received the Thomas A. Dorsey Most Notable Achievement Award
- Vincent Bohanan & SOV won Album of the Year for Live in New York
- Lecrae won Rap Hip Hop Gospel Album of the Year for Reconstruction
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