Doves fly at 42nd awards show

Francesca Battistelli continues her strong surge as Christian music's biggest star. Battistelli won artist of the year at the 42nd annual Dove Awards held Wednesday night in Atlanta. She also went home with two more awards — best female vocalist and pop-contemporary recorded song. Battistelli, 25, has surged recently with her second major label album, "Hundred More Years," which reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top Christian Albums chart last month.

"I'm on Cloud Nine right now," said Battistelli after the awards show, which will air at 6 p.m. (and repeating at 8 p.m.) Sunday on GMC, formerly known as the Gospel Music Channel. "I'm standing here ... speechless. This is totally humbling."

Other winners included Chris August, who was new artist of the year, best male vocalist and earned another award for pop-contemporary album. Singer Jason Crabb and the group Point of Grace also joined Battistelli in claiming three Doves apiece.

Actress and TV talk show host Sherri Shepherd (ABC's "The View") was host of the show.

Legendary singer Sandi Patty was honored for her lifetime achievements. Several singers, including Battistelli, Natalie Grant, Audrey Assad, Kerri Robert, Janet Paschal, Brit Nicole and Laura Story, each gave a rendition of Patty's past hit songs.

Patty then joined the seven singers and sang with them before she presented Battistelli with her second-straight female artist of the year award.

Patty said she feels comfortable "passing on the torch" to the other female singers, saying she was impressed with Battistelli's poise.

"She has the least amount of lines than anyone else," Patty said. "But she didn't gripe and or get mad. She just kept being gracious. I told her to never lose that."

AP

Francesca Battistelli won three Dove Awards. | David Goldman~APDavid Goldman