K-LOVE has announced the launch of the first fan-voted awards show in Christian music history. The winners will be announced at the K-LOVE Fan Awards show, which will be held June 1 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

The show is part of the K-LOVE Fan Awards and Ultimate Fan Experience, to be held May 31-June 2—an inaugural event that will "bring together the biggest names in Christian music, sports, books and movies for its biggest night in Music City," organizers said.

A leading Christian radio network with a weekly audience of 14 million people, K-LOVE selected Nashville as the host city because it is "home to the faith-based entertainment industry."

"We appreciate our relationship with both listeners and Nashville's music community," K-LOVE Chief Creative Officer David Pierce said. "The K-LOVE Fan Awards is an opportunity for us to appreciate and encourage those who are making music and media that impacts our world for Christ."

The voting process will begin in May, and award categories include Female Vocalist of the Year; Male Vocalist of the Year; Duo/Group of the Year; Breakthrough Artists of the Year; Sports Impact; Movie Impact; Book of the Year; "Unsung Hero," K-LOVE listener award; Artists of the Year; and Song of the Year.

The new event was announced Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, at the Ryman, which drew artists such as TobyMac, Amy Grant, Jeremy Camp, Brandon Heath, Francesca Battistelli, Jamie Grace and Plumb as well as Nashville Mayor Karl Dean.

The awards mission is "to create a fan experience that celebrates and promotes artists, athletes, authors and entertainers who, with excellence, engage and impact popular culture for Jesus Christ."

The award show will be hosted by Phil and Kay Robertson and Jase and Missy Robertson, stars of A&E TV's popular show Duck Dynasty.

"We are thrilled to be a part of this fan-centered event for the Christian music industry," the Robertsons said in a joint statement. "With our own show, we know how important and vital the fans are to our success, and we understand why K-LOVE wants to host this event to give back to their listeners. As fans of Christian music, we are excited to host the awards and bring our own Duck Dynasty flare to the evening for a fun-filled, family-friendly event."

Click here for more information on the K-LOVE Fan Awards and Ultimate Fan Experience. 

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and best-selling author of The Purpose Driven Life (Zondervan), plans to launch a daily radio show starting the first week of April, The Christian Post reported.

Speaking Feb. 12 at a media gathering at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Warren said the 30-minute show, which will be called "Daily Hope," will focus on bringing "hope to a country that is in a discouragement period," and talked of "the deterioration of religious freedom in the United States and around the world."

Warren never before wanted to syndicate his messages or become a televangelist, but he changed his mind regarding a radio show due to the "discouragement" currently being felt nationwide, citing the weak economic recovery, high unemployment, the shooting in Newtown, Conn., and the "coarsening of society," The Christian Post reported.

"People are far more rude now than they used to be," said Warren, who has pastored Saddleback Church for 32 years. "Our civilization is losing its civility. We just don't know how to be nice to people."

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has approved the proposed merger of Penguin and Random House “without conditions,” according to a DOJ statement issued to their respective parent companies, Pearson and Bertelsmann.

“We are very pleased that the U.S. Department of Justice has concluded its review and made a determination to clear the planned combination of Random House and Penguin without any conditions,” said Thomas Rabe, chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann. "This positive first decision by one of the antitrust authorities is an important milestone on the path to uniting two of the world’s leading publishing companies into a truly global publishing group.”

Macmillan has struck a deal to settle a lawsuit brought by Connecticut and 32 other states that alleges the publisher was involved in price-fixing e-books.

Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said the deal grants e-book retailers greater freedom in pricing the digital books and provides $12 million to compensate affected customers.

In another case, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement with Macmillan last week in its civil antitrust lawsuit accusing the nation's five largest book publishers of colluding with Apple to raise e-book prices.

Announced Feb. 8, the settlement, in which Macmillan agreed to pay up to $20 million, leaves Apple as the only defendant standing against the federal government's charges that the computer giant conspired with several publishers to force e-book prices several dollars above the $9.99 charged by Amazon.com on its Kindle device.

Under Macmillan's settlement with the DOJ, the publisher will remove restrictions on discounting and other promotions by e-book retailers. It will also be prohibited from forging new agreements with similar restrictions until December 2014, Associated Press reported.

"We settled because the potential penalties became too high to risk even the possibility of an unfavorable outcome," Macmillan CEO John Sargent wrote in an online letter to authors, illustrators and agents. "Our company is not large enough to risk a worst-case judgment."

The Justice Department, which filed the suit in April 2012, settled with Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Simon & Schuster and Penguin Group (USA) last year. The trial against Apple is scheduled to begin in June.

EMI Christian Music Group has unveiled its new name as Capitol Christian Music Group (CCMG)—part of the newly launched Capitol Music Group, which includes Capitol Records, Virgin Records, Blue Note, Astralwerks, Harvest, Caroline and the Capitol Studios.

"We are very encouraged to be working alongside Steve Barnett and the amazing team he is building at the new Capitol Music Group," said CCMG President and CEO Bill Hearn. "Being part of this team and with the strength of the Universal Music Group Distribution system, we are now in the best possible position to invest in and serve our artists and writers and grow our business."

CCMG garnered three GRAMMYs with ForeFront Records' TobyMac and sixstepsrecords' Matt Redman during the 55th annual GRAMMY Awards, held Feb. 10 in Los Angeles.

EMI Christian Music Group was also recognized in the music category by CBA during its Second Annual Champions of the Faith Awards prior to the International Christian Retail Show last summer in Orlando, Fla.

Christian music veteran Carman has been diagnosed with incurable cancer.

"I have delayed writing this, but those of you I call friends and supporters, who have prayed for me and this ministry need to know about this new battle that lies ahead," the musician and evangelist wrote Thursday, Feb. 14, on his Facebook page. "One week ago, I was diagnosed with myeloma cancer. It is incurable, and I've been given a three- to four-year window of time."

The news comes on the heels of Carman's latest album, Anthems of a Champion, released last month by Sparrow Records/EMI CMG Distribution. Carman, 57, whose full name is Carmelo Domenic Licciardello, is known for concerts, that "are more like a rock 'n' roll Billy Graham crusade than a Christian music event," his website noted.

Carman wrote that he will go in for his first bone biopsy this week.

"I used to go to movies in the afternoon, now I go see doctors," he said. "I want to put an end to all the rumors. I ask for your prayers. I want you all to know that I will continue to minister and win souls until I can't do it any longer. My life has always been about ministry. I have a call of God to touch lives with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that's what I will do until the Lord calls me home."

Carman, who released his first album in 1980, asked his Facebook followers not to fill his page with cancer treatment remedies, but encouraged them to come to his concerts.

"Bring someone who doesn't know the Lord or who needs to be healed," he wrote. "I will always pray for the sick, and I'm also going to step up the intensity of my message at these events. I will not leave this world quietly, and I want the devil to know that he put cancer on absolutely the wrong Italian."

"I have a few good years, and before it's too late, I want to see your faces, shake your hands and hug your necks," Carman added. "But mostly I want to see one of you get healed of what threatens your future, and I really want to see someone you love come to Christ. Now let's get back to business. We have to work while it's day for soon the night comes."

Click here for more information on Carman's concert tour.

Christian retail stores and suppliers are offering deals for Valentine's Day, Feb. 14.

Family Christian Stores is advertising a "$5 & 50% off Doorbusters" sale on its website, spotlighting marriage books such as 15 Minute Devotions for Couples by Bob and Emilie Barnes (Harvest House Publishers) for $8.39 versus the $13.99 regular price.

The chain is also offering the inspirational drama 1 Message (EchoLight Studios) for $7.49 versus $14.99 and $5 on several products, including Point of Grace's A Thousand Little Things (Word Records/Word Distribution).

Mardel Christian & Education is running Valentine's specials, including offering new love-themed, Willow Tree sculptures; True Love Waits and purity jewelry for 25% off; and Blooming Expressions flower blooms from DaySpring.

Johnsen & Taylor in Wheaton, Ill.—Tyndale House Publishers' joint venture with Christian Art Gifts and South Africa-based Christian Publishing Company—is also offering a Valentine's sale, including $5 for the best-selling Fireproof: Special Collector's Edition DVD (Provident Films/Provident Distribution).

Meanwhile, American Idol finalist and three-time GRAMMY nominee Mandisa is hosting a Valentine's Day event for single women. The event, called "Galentines," will be held at LifeWay Christian Resources' headquarters in downtown Nashville. It will also be broadcast online to churches, small groups and individuals.

In honor of his wife, Dorla, John Schlitt—lead singer for the GRAMMY-winning band Petra—is offering a Valentine's Day free download via www.SchlittShop.com of "The Gift (Dorla's Song)," the most recent single on his fourth solo CD, The Greater Cause (Daywind Music Group/New Day Christian Distributors).

"I know that the Lord brought us together and by His grace has kept us together for more than 40 years—through all the ups, the downs and everything in between," said Schlitt. "In all the years I've been involved in music, I had never written a song about the amazing gift the Lord has given me in my wife."