Christian group MercyMe was named American Music Awards' (AMA) Best Contemporary Inspirational Artist last night. The announcement was made before the awards show held at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Also nominated in the category were Third Day and Steven Curtis Chapman, last year's winner.

MercyMe and Switchfoot were also presenters at the awards program.

Winners are determined by a national poll of 20,000 people, with nominees drawn from retail sales and radio airplay data.