CeCe Winans Gives Glory to God After Winning Female Artist of the Year at the 2026

Gospel legend CeCe Winans added another honor to one of the most decorated careers in Christian music on May 24, 2026, when she was named Female Artist of the Year at the 13th annual K-LOVE Fan Awards — and, true to form, she turned the spotlight away from herself and toward God.

A fan-voted honor

The K-LOVE Fan Awards hold a distinct place on the Christian music calendar. Unlike industry ceremonies decided by academies or critics, the awards are chosen by fans, who cast the votes that determine each winner. That makes Winans’s Female Artist of the Year trophy a direct reflection of the audience that has followed her for decades — and a meaningful marker of how deeply her music continues to connect.

The ceremony was staged, as it has been for years, at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, and later premiered on TBN on May 29. Accepting the award, Winans gave glory to God, framing the moment less as a personal achievement than as an opportunity to point listeners back to her faith — the same posture that has defined her public life and her music throughout her career.

Crowning a banner year

The win capped an extraordinary stretch for the veteran singer. Earlier in 2026, Winans claimed her 18th career Grammy Award, a total that tied her with the late Aretha Franklin and cemented her standing as one of the most awarded women in the ceremony’s history. She is widely regarded as the best-selling and most-awarded female gospel artist of all time.

The momentum has carried across every part of her work. Her album Hymns reached No. 1, she released a book, Faith for Generations, and she has been crisscrossing the country on her More Than This tour, performing to sold-out, multi-generational crowds. Running through all of it is a stated mission to pass faith and worship on to a younger generation — a theme she has returned to again and again in recent interviews.

Among the night’s big winners

Winans was in celebrated company at the Opry. Brandon Lake was the evening’s biggest story, taking home both Artist of the Year and Male Artist of the Year, while MercyMe was named Group of the Year. Elsewhere on the night, Emerson Day earned Breakout Single of the Year, Sadie Robertson Huff won Podcast of the Year, Anne Wilson was recognized with Book Impact, and Coach RAC received the Sports Impact honor.

For Winans, though, the takeaway was characteristically simple. In a year filled with chart milestones, a record-tying Grammy and a coast-to-coast tour, she used one more moment in the spotlight to do what she has always done: give the credit to God.

Editor’s note: This article was compiled from public reporting by Jubilee Cast, Billboard, Yahoo Entertainment, Patheos, and public record sources including Wikipedia. It is an original summary and does not reproduce the text of any single source or any song lyrics.