For the second year in a row, YOU, the fans, can vote for your favorite new artists at the 45th Academy of Country Music Awards!
The Academy of Country
Music and Great American Country have partnered to open up the three newcomer categories — Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Duo and Top
New Vocal Group -- to interactive fan voting through VoteACM.com.
(As previously announced, the Top New Solo Vocalist category will take the place
of the Top New Male Vocalist and Top New Female Vocalist categories.)
Fan voting begins at www.VoteACM.com on Friday, February 26th, and will close on
Friday, March 12. The winner in each category will be announced in mid-March
and will move on to compete for Top New
Artist. Voting for the Top New
Artist category will begin at VoteACM.com on Thursday, April 1, and will close on April 18,
with the winner being announced live during the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards broadcast on CBS.
Following is the list of final nominees in the Top New
categories:
Top New Solo vocalist
·
Luke Bryan
·
Jamey Johnson
·
Chris Young
Top New vocal duo
·
Bomshel
·
Joey + Rory
·
Steel Magnolia
Top New Vocal Group
·
Eli Young Band
·
Gloriana
·
The Lost Trailers
Professional members of the
Academy of Country Music select the final nominees in the Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Duo and Top New Vocal Group
categories. Professional member
votes will be combined with fan votes to obtain the winners of the Top New
categories of the ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS.
As part of this partnership,
GAC will air several stand-alone specials, including a show featuring all the
nominees from each of the three categories, as well as a show featuring the
three winners who will compete for overall Top New Artist.
“GAC provides many new
country music artists their first television exposure, and this special
programming gives fans the opportunity to get to know the ACM new artist
nominees even better,” said Sarah Trahern, Senior Vice President of Programming
for GAC.
“The Academy’s partnership with GAC last year
brought a lot of new faces to the forefront of country fans minds, and we hope
to build on that success, exposing a brand new slate of newcomers to GAC
viewers,” said Bob Romeo, Executive Director of the Academy of Country Music.
The first GAC special, hosted
by reigning ACM Top New Male Vocalist Jake Owen, will feature the nine nominees, three from each newcomer category, and
will premiere Thursday, February 25 at 10:00 PM ET. This special will re-air
through March 12, when voting closes.
On March 23, GAC will tape a second
special wherein the winner in each category will be named and presented with
the award for Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Duo, and Top New Vocal
Group. Each winning act will perform on
this special, which will air multiple times before the Academy of Country Music
Awards. The premiere airdate of the special is Thursday, April 1 at 10:00 PM ET.
VOTE NOW!