Kevin Maillefer Volunteered at 2017 GMA Dove Awards

2017 Oct 12

Cedarville University student Kevin Maillefer of Sycamore, volunteered Oct. 17, at the 48th Annual Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove Awards ceremony at Lipscomb University's Allen Arena in Nashville.

Maillefer was among nine students chosen to serve at the prestigious event. The Dove Awards started in 1970 to honor the very best of Christian music. The show celebrates musical diversity, presenting awards to artists representing modern rock, rap, hip-hop, pop, worship, southern gospel, urban, bluegrass and country.

Earlier this year, Cedarville was selected to help with the GMA Academy launch. The GMA Academy creates networking opportunities between college students and Christian music professionals by providing job and internship listings, industry updates, volunteer opportunities and event invitations. From this connection, GMA asked Dr. Roger O'Neel, assistant chair and associate professor of worship, if Cedarville worship students could volunteer at the Dove Awards.

"This is a very unique opportunity for our students," said O'Neel. "To participate on a production of this caliber and scope will allow them to meet influential people in the music publishing industry, managers and contemporary Christian music artists themselves. We hope that this will be educational for the students, as well as beneficial for Cedarville."

Students were involved in setup Monday night and assisted the artists during the awards show on Tuesday as they attended press conferences, events and moved on and off stage.

Cedarville University, located between Dayton and Columbus, Ohio is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 3,963 undergraduate, graduate, and online students in more than 100 areas of study.