On Tuesday (March 26), the Gospel Music Association (GMA) announced a new category dedicated to Spanish representation in Christian music for their annual Dove Awards. The award for Spanish language worship recorded song of the year will debut at the 55th GMA Dove Awards, set to take place on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at the Allen Arena in Nashville. Nominations will be announced on July 24.

The new award, which will recognize the talent of performers and songwriters of worship songs, joins two other pre-existing Latin music categories: Spanish language album of the year, established in 1998, and Spanish language recorded song of the year, created in 2017. (Bands Generación 12 and Miel San Marcos were the winners of these awards, respectively, last year).

The initiative responds to a 30% increase in Spanish-language music entries submitted to the awards show in the last five years, as well as the constant growth of Spanish language music in genres ranging including worship, urban, pop, and rock.

“We have witnessed this genre boom internationally, without precedent or barriers,” Justin Fratt, executive vice president of the Gospel Music Association, said in a press release. “For us, it has been an honor to support our colleagues from various Latin American and Spanish-speaking countries, celebrating the greatness of their music.”

The effort was backed by other companies in the Latin Christian industry such as CanZion, Capitol CMG/Universal, Creation Music, Curb Records, Heaven and Sony/Provident, according to the release.

Henry Alonzo, CCO of Christian music publishing and distribution company Adarga Entertainment Group, tells Billboard Español that its audio and video streaming numbers have quadrupled recently, and that its artists — who have included Miel San Marcos, Alex Campos and Jesús Adrian — have reached the same stages as those in other genres of Latin music. “All this is thanks to the work done by the same industry that supports artists of this genre,” he said.

Since its foundation in 1964, GMA has served a highly diverse community of creatives and professionals within the Christian and gospel music industry. Its mission is to expose, promote and celebrate gospel music. Through the GMA Foundation and the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the association seeks to preserve the legacy of the genre’s pioneers, while celebrating the work of contemporary artists with events such as the Dove Awards.