Genre-jumping star tobyMac shared his second consecutive Christian Songwriter of the Year crown with southern gospel favorite Rodney Griffin and pop-savvy rockers Needtobreathe’s Bo Rinehart. “What Faith Can Do” earned Christian Song of the Year honors for its creative team. Written by Scott Krippayne and published by Pirk Music, the song was recorded by alt-rock outfit Kutless. With five songs in the most-performed list, Universal Music Publishing Group was named Christian Publisher of the Year for the fourth consecutive year.

During the ceremony, Triumphant Quartet, Sidewalk Prophets, and Song of the Year winner Scott Krippayne each delivered inspiring performances of award-winning songs.

Jody Williams, BMI Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Nashville, along with Senior Director Thomas Cain and Director Beth Laird, of BMI’s Nashville Writer/Publisher Relations Department, served as the evening’s hosts, and presented awards spanning five categories: Christian rock, contemporary Christian, inspirational, urban gospel and southern gospel. BMI Senior Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations Phil Graham joined his staff on stage for the presentation of the night’s top honors, Song, Songwriter, and Publisher of the Year.

The ceremony also included a moving tribute to late Gospel Music Association (GMA) co-founder Don Butler, who died earlier this year. A trusted and visionary executive, he was also a talented singer and producer of albums, GMA awards ceremonies and television series. Butler served as the GMA’s board executive director from 1976 to 1991.

A complete list of the 2011 BMI Christian Award winners is available at www.bmi.com.

Follow BMI on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmi and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/broadcastmusicinc.

Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI), a global leader in rights management, is an American performing right organization that represents more than 475,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music and more than 6.5 million works. BMI has represented the most popular and beloved music from around the world for 70 years. The U.S. corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents. www.bmi.com