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Here my picks in the second round of the Singing News Fan Awards:

• Group - Ernie Haase & Signature Sound. I really, really, really wanted to vote for the Perrys, too. I like both groups equally.
• Male Singer - Ernie Haase. My first-round pick, Mark Trammell, didn’t even make Top 10!
• Female Singer - Libbi Perry Stuffle. I didn’t even have to read who the other nominees were; all I had to do was find that I had to circle 7 to vote for Libbi.
• Horizon Group - Ball Brothers. I considered Tribute but went with the Ball Brothers.
• Horizon Individual - Dustin Sweatman. I wanted to vote for Dustin in either Horizon or Young Artist, and so voted for him in this category and Joseph Habedank in the other.
• Young Artist - Joseph Habedank. The Perrys’ sound improved when Joseph moved to the lead spot.
• Musician - Roger Bennett. I nominated Stewart Varnado, but he didn’t make the top 10. I wanted to honor Roger. He’s won the pianist award for more consecutive years than any other SG performer has won in any category. I think it would be appropriate to honor a legend of this stature with one final award. I must admit I was also a little curious to find out what Debbie would say if she was given a chance behind the microphone! If SG fans don’t see things the way I do, I will probably vote for Kim Collingsworth in the final round (especially after all the nice things you said about her yesterday!)
  
• Songwriter - Dianne Wilkinson. I’d like to see her win this award at least once.
• Album of the Year - Once Upon a Cross (Mark Trammell Trio).
• Tenor of the Year: Ernie Haase. I’d really like to vote for Eric Phillips someday, too, but I went with Ernie again this year.
• Lead Singer of the Year: Ryan Seaton.
• Baritone of the Year: Mark Trammell. There are several good options here - Doug Anderson, Andrew King, and Nick Trammell particularly come to mind - but in the end I went with Mr. Baritone himself.
• Bass of the Year: Randy Byrd (Blackwood Brothers). I considered voting for Tim Duncan right off but figured he’d make the top 5 without my help.
• Alto of the Year: Libbi Perry Stuffle. I didn’t have to spend any time thinking this one over.
• Soprano of the Year: Brooklyn Collingsworth. I wanted to vote for the Collingsworth Family in at least one category, and there aren’t many options in the Soprano category anyhow.

At last night’s Dove Awards, the Gaither Vocal Band took home both Southern Gospel Album of the Year and Southern Gospel Recorded Song of the Year for their album Give it Away and its title track, respectively. Another Southern Gospel group, the Lewis Family, also took home two Dove Awards, winning Bluegrass Album and Recorded Song of the Year Awards for Flyin’ High and a song “My Cross” from that project.

Producers Wayne Haun and Kevin Ward are listed in the official awards listing for their part in producing Flyin’ High, and producer Michael Sykes joins the members of the Gaither Vocal Band with co-producer credits for Give it Away.