Christian music's leader in sales and touring,
Casting Crowns picks up a monumental fifth consecutive win last night for the prestigious
Group of the Year award at the 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards, broadcast live on the Gospel Music Channel from the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
Additionally, the band took home the Dove Award for
Christmas Album of the Year for its 2008 chart-topping, first Christmas project
Peace On Earth.
The top-selling album reached No.1 on iTunes Christian albums chart, and No. 3 on iTunes overall Holiday albums chart in 2008, weekly topping seasonal releases from Faith Hill and Elvis Presley. Lead vocalist Mark Hall was also recognized as the project's producer.
Hall said, "It's been an amazing year of ministry for Casting Crowns. We are proud to be a part of Christian music and we thank GMA for making the Dove Awards such a special event."
Casting Crowns received an additional Dove Award win in the
Short Form Music Video category for its powerful music video "Slow Fade," appearing on the band's RIAA Gold-certified The Altar and The Door Live DVD/CD.
This week, the band returns
from performing a second time in North Korea as a U.S. delegate in the nationally-televised "April Spring Arts Festival" in Pyongyang, D.P.R.K. Casting Crowns participated in 2007 as the only U.S. delegate. For more, visit www.providentpress.com for Global Resource Services' recent press release.
*Photo Caption: Casting Crowns pictured backstage following Dove Awards wins. Pictured L-R: Chris Huffman, Hector Cervantes, Juan DeVevo, Mark Hall, Melodee DeVevo, Megan Garrett and Brian Scoggin.
About Casting Crowns:
The platinum-selling, GRAMMY-winning group has sold more than 4 million records, and delivered eight consecutive No. 1 singles at Christian AC radio. Casting Crowns' third studio recording,
The Altar and The Door wrapped 2008 as
Billboard's No. 1 "Top Christian Album" of the year, and Casting Crowns was ranked the No.1 "Top Christian Album Artist." The album achieved an historical debut at No. 2 on
The Billboard 200 chart in Sept., 2007, with 130,000 first-week copies sold, making it the highest debut in the country that week and the second highest CD seller
of any kind in America.
Casting Crowns is headed by frontman/principal songwriter Mark Hall, youth pastor of Eagle's Landing First Baptist Church near Atlanta. The band served as the featured guest artist at the 2009 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., performing for President Obama, Tony Blair and 3,000 dignitaries.
For more information on Casting Crowns and for concert listings, please visit
www.castingcrowns.com.
