The 41st Stellar Awards are still airing across the country, and the Doves are two weeks out

Lisa Knowles-Smith took five. Darrel Walls took Artist of the Year. The broadcast syndication window runs through September 27, and the 57th GMA Dove Awards follow on October 6 with a Richard Smallwood tribute.

September 22, 2026 at 8:35 PM Pacific · By the Gospel Desk, Gospel News Access

If you have not seen the 41st Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards yet, you have not missed them. The ceremony was taped on Saturday, August 15, 2026 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, and it is still working its way across the country: after premiering on The Stellar Network on August 29 and on BET on August 30, the show went into national broadcast syndication from September 5 through September 27. That window is open right now. Air dates and times vary by market, so the listing to check is your own local station's.

Kirk Franklin hosted. The theme was "Feels Like Home."

The night belonged to Lisa Knowles-Smith, who won five awards — four of them for "Revival: Live in Dallas," recorded with The Brown Singers. She took the Albertina Walker Female Artist of the Year award; Duo/Chorus/Group of the Year and Quartet of the Year with The Brown Singers; Producer of the Year alongside Frederick Perry; and Song of the Year for "Promises (Live)," which she wrote under her given name, Alescia Knowles-Smith. For a group with the history the Brown Singers have, five trophies in one night is a career marker, and it was widely reported as a first for them at this scale.

Darrel Walls won Artist of the Year and Contemporary Male Artist of the Year, both for "Heart of Mine" — the same record that opened his year with a Grammy for Best Gospel Album.

Vincent Bohanan & SOV won three, including Album of the Year for "Live in New York," with further wins in the choir categories. Jonathan McReynolds, John P. Kee and Jekalyn Carr each won more than once — McReynolds for "Still (Live)" featuring Jamal Roberts, Kee for "Throwback: An Evening With John P. Kee Part I," and Carr for "Jekalyn X The Legends." In the hip-hop categories, Lecrae won Rap/Hip Hop Gospel Album of the Year for "Reconstruction" and JustCordell won Rap/Hip Hop Song of the Year for "Movin."

Two honours were given outside the competitive categories. Tasha Cobbs Leonard received the Aretha Franklin Icon Award. Pastor Mike Jr. received the Thomas A. Dorsey Most Notable Achievement Award.

WHAT IS NEXT: the 57th Annual GMA Dove Awards are on Tuesday, October 6, 2026 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The broadcast airs on TBN and the TBN+ app on Friday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern, simulcast on SiriusXM The Message.

The Doves have announced a tribute to Richard Smallwood featuring Jonathan McReynolds, Kierra Sheard and Donald Lawrence, together with original members of Smallwood's ensemble Vision — among them Maurette Brown Clark and Ted Winn — with Percy Bady as musical director. Tasha Cobbs Leonard is among the announced performers. Anthony Brown, CeCe Winans and Lisa Knowles-Smith are among the announced presenters.

Knowles-Smith arrives in Nashville holding her first two Dove nominations: Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year for "Promises," and Traditional Gospel Album of the Year for "Revival: Live in Dallas." Five Stellars in August and a first Dove nomination in October is the kind of run that usually reshapes a touring calendar.

How this was sourced: the Stellar winners and ceremony details are drawn from the Gospel Music Association (gospelmusic.org), Billboard's published winners list, the Stellar Awards' own site and the Journal of Gospel Music. The Dove Awards date, venue, broadcast details, performers and presenters are drawn from the Gospel Music Association's announcements and Bridgestone Arena's event listing. Gospel News Access did not attend either ceremony and does not report as though it did.