Stellar Awards

A Stellar Award is an award presented by the Stellar Awards Gospel Music Academy (SAGMA) to recognize achievements in the gospel music industry.^[1] The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent gospel artists, and the presentation of those awards that have a more popular interest.^[2] The Stellars were the first major gospel music awards held annually.

Stellar Awards
Current: 40th Annual Stellar Awards
Awarded for	Outstanding achievements in the gospel music industry
Country	United States
Presented by	Stellar Awards Gospel Music Academy (SAGMA) / Central City Productions
First award	1984; 41 years ago (1984)
Website	thestellarawards.com
Television/radio coverage
Network	TV One (2015–2018) BET (2019–present)

The first Stellar Awards ceremony was held on 1984, to honor and respect the musical accomplishments by gospel performers for the year 1983. Following the 2018 ceremony, SAGMA overhauled a few Stellar Award categories for 2019.

In 2020, the awards show was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony was aired virtually on August 23, 2020.^[3]

History

The first award ceremony was held at Arie Crown Theater in Chicago in 1985.^[4] Over the years, the Stellars have been held in various locations including Atlanta,^[5] Houston,^[6] Los Angeles, Las Vegas,^[7] Nashville,^[8] and New York. Starting from the 30th Annual Stellar Awards in 2015, the show aired on American digital cable and satellite television network TV One.^[9] Starting with the 34th annual ceremony in 2019, the Stellar Awards moved its annual broadcast to BET.^[10] The number of awards given has changed over the years with categories being added and removed. The Stellars are produced by Don Jackson's Chicago-based Central City Productions.^[2] The production company is also a distributor of original programming to television and cable networks.^[2]

In the spring of 2000, Central City Productions changed the voting process by creating the Stellar Awards Gospel Music Academy (SAGMA).^[1] SAGMA is currently the official voting body for the Stellar Awards.^[1] The Academy is open to artists, gospel industry professionals, radio announcers, record company executives, writers, and educators.^[1]

Entry process and selection of nominees

Record companies and artists enter recordings and music videos online released during the eligibility period that meet the category requirements.^[11] Entries are made online and product is submitted digitally. Once a work is entered, submission go through a screening process.^[11] A confidential review committee made up of music industry experts in various fields meet to insure that all entries meet the eligibility criteria, all entries are in the appropriate categories, and are appropriate for the Stellar Awards.^[11] Each category is limited based on the dictate and discretion of the review committee.^[11] Technical quality, lyrics, voice quality, charting duration, project content and charting performance are reviewed for inclusion on the ballot. All review committee selections are then finalized.^[11]

Final voting

The voting process for narrowing down the final nominees consist of two separate ballots. The first round ballot includes eligible entries as determined by the review committee and voted upon by eligible SAGMA members. Top entries for each category from the first ballot move forward to the final ballot. During the final voting process, SAGMA members determine the Stellar Awards nominees and winners. The nominees are announced during a press/radio tour.^[11] Once final nominees are determined, some categories are available for public voting through the Fan Favorite Voting period. Selected categories for fan voting changes from year to year.

Categories

• Artist of the year
• Song of the Year
• Male Vocalist of the Year
• Albertina Walker Female Vocalist of the Year
• Chorus Group/ Duo of the Year
• New Artist of the Year
• Album of the Year
• Choir of the Year
• Producer of the Year
• Contemporary Chorus Group/ Duo of the Year
• Traditional Chorus Group/Duo of the Year
• Contemporary male artist of the year
• Traditional male artist of the year
• Traditional female artist of the Year
• Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year
• Contemporary album of the year
• Traditional album of the year
• Urban single or performance of the year
• Music Video of the Year
• Traditional choir of the Year
• Contemporary choir of the Year
• Traditional Artist of the Year
• Special event album of the Year
• Rap/Hip Hop gospel album of the year
• Rap/Hip Hop gospel song of the year
• Youth Project of the year
• Quartet of the Year
• Recorded music Packaging of Year
• Praise and worship album of the Year
• Praise and worship song of the year

Radio & Internet Station Awards

• Gospel Radio Top Market of the Year
• Gospel Radio Medium Market of the Year
• Gospel Radio Small Market of the Year
• Gospel Internet Station of the Year
• Gospel announcer of the Year
• Syndicated Gospel Radio Show

Ceremonies

#	Date	Host(s)	Venue	Ref.
1	1986	Tramaine Hawkins	Arie Crown Theater, Chicago	[12][13]
2	1987	Al Green Tramaine Hawkins	Auditorium Theatre, Chicago	[4][13][14]
3	1988	The Winans	Christ Universal Temple, Chicago	[4][13]
4	1989	Wintley Phipps Tramaine Hawkins Marvin Winans		[4][13][15]
5	1990	Clifton Davis Marla Gibbs	Aquarius Theater, Los Angeles	[4][13][16]
6	1991	Clifton Davis Marilyn McCoo	Apollo Theater, New York City	[13]
7	1992		Royce Hall, Los Angeles	[4][13][17]
8	1993			[13][18][19]
9	November 1994	Anna Maria Horsford Clifton Davis	Auditorium Theatre, Chicago	[4][13][20]
10	1995	Arnetia Walker Meshach Taylor		[4][13]
11	1996	James Avery Kim Fields Jonathan Slocumb	Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville	[13]
12	1997	Terrence C. Carson Jonathan Slocumb CeCe Winans	Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville	[13][21]
13	1998	Yolanda Adams Miguel A. Núñez Jr.		[13]
14	January 9, 1999	Lynn Whitfield Steve Harvey CeCe Winans	Atlanta Civic Center, Atlanta	[13][22][23]
15	January 8, 2000	Dr. Bobby Jones Donnie McClurkin Vickie Winans		[13][24]
16	January 13, 2001	Ananda Lewis Vickie Winans Dr. Bobby Jones T. D. Jakes		[13][25]
17	January 12, 2002	Yolanda Adams Donnie McClurkin		[13][26]
18	January 11, 2003	Mary Mary Donnie McClurkin Michelle Williams		[13][27]
19	January 10, 2004	Yolanda Adams Kirk Franklin Donnie McClurkin	George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston	[13][28]
20	January 15, 2005	Yolanda Adams Donnie McClurkin Tonéx		[13][29]
21	January 21, 2006	Israel Houghton Vickie Winans Donnie McClurkin	Grand Ole Opry, Nashville	[13][30]
22	January 13, 2007	Kirk Franklin Mary Mary Tye Tribbett		[13][31]
23	January 12, 2008	Kirk Franklin CeCe Winans Byron Cage		[13][32]
24	January 17, 2009	Dorinda Clark-Cole Donnie McClurkin Sinbad		[13][33]
25	January 16, 2010	Kirk Franklin Donnie McClurkin Vickie Winans		[13][34]
26	January 15, 2011	Donnie McClurkin		[13][35]
27	January 14, 2012	Dorinda Clark-Cole Marvin Sapp		[13][36]
28	January 19, 2013	Mary Mary Kirk Franklin		[13][37][38]
29	January 18, 2014	Sherri Shepherd Rickey Smiley	Nashville Municipal Auditorium, Nashville	[13][39]
30	March 28, 2015	Rickey Smiley David Mann Tamela Mann	Orleans Arena, Las Vegas	[13][40][41]
31	February 20, 2016	Rickey Smiley Sherri Shepherd		[13][42]
32	March 25, 2017	Anthony Brown Erica Campbell		[13][43]
33	March 24, 2018	Kirk Franklin		[13][44]
34	March 29, 2019			[13][45]
35	August 23, 2020	Kirk Franklin Jonathan McReynolds Koryn Hawthorne	Virtual ceremony	[3][13]
36	July 10, 2021	Jekalyn Carr Tye Tribbett	Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Nashville	[13]
37	July 16, 2022	Jekalyn Carr Kierra Sheard	Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Atlanta	[46][13]
38	July 15, 2023	Jonathan McReynolds Tasha Cobbs Leonard	Orleans Arena, Las Vegas	[47][13]
39	July 20, 2024	Rickey Smiley Loni Love		[13]

See also

• List of religion-related awards