MATTHEW WEST TAKES CHRISTIAN MUSIC SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR FOR 5TH TIME AT ASCAP CHRISTIAN MUSIC AWARDS

West's "My Jesus" Honored as Song of the Year
Capitol CMG Publishing Recognized as Publisher of the Year for 20th Consecutive Year

NEW YORK, Sept. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, celebrates its 44th Annual ASCAP Christian Music Awards across all social media platforms on Wednesday, September 21. Celebrating the most performed ASCAP Christian music of the past year, the awards feature exclusive photos, performances and interviews from some of the winning songwriters and publishers posted with the hashtag #ASCAPAwards on @ASCAP Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For the fifth time in his career, Matthew West is named ASCAP Christian Songwriter of the Year, honoring his work on hit songs "Look What You've Done," "My Jesus," "Scars in Heaven," "Weary Traveler" and "What If." With over 130 songwriting credits for artists including Rascal Flatts, Scotty McCreery and Amy Grant and an equally impressive solo career, West was also recognized as ASCAP Christian Songwriter-Artist of the Year in 2013, 2015 and 2016. He is a five-time Grammy nominee and has seven nominations for the upcoming 2022 Dove Awards in October. He recently released his sixth book, The God Who Stays.

"My Jesus," co-written by West, is honored as Christian Song of the Year. The debut single from singer-songwriter Anne Wilson, the song topped both the Christian Airplay and Hot Christian Songs charts and was nominated for Top Christian Song at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards. As part of the ASCAP awards, West will tell the story behind "My Jesus," and perform it along with Wilson in an exclusive video.

Capitol CMG Publishing receives ASCAP Christian Music Publisher of the Year for the 20th consecutive year for songs including "Be Alright," "Child of Love," "In the House," "Next to Me" and more. To celebrate the honor, the Capitol CMG publishing team will gather to accept the award on a video shared on ASCAP social media.

The social media celebration will also present an exclusive video performance from David Spencer who will deliver "In Jesus Name (God of Possible)," his hit song for Katy Nichole. Blessing Offor and Sam Ellis will each tell the story behind the award-winning "Brighter Days," and Jordan St. Cyr and co-writer A.J. Prius will explain how they created "Weary Traveler" with Matthew West.

The full list of ASCAP Christian Music Awards winners is available at www.ascap.com/christianawards22.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP's mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world's best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business - from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With more than 875,000 members representing more than 16 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com, on Twitter and Instagram @ASCAP and on Facebook.

SOURCE ASCAP