ACM Reveals New Artist of the Year Semifinalists

The Academy of Country Music and Great American Country have revealed semifinalists for the New Artist of the Year Award, to be presented at the 47th Annual ACM Awards April 1. For the fourth consecutive year, voting will be opened up to fans through voteacm.com and gactv.com/acm beginning Monday, January 16.

New Artist of the Year semi-finalists:
Brantley Gilbert
Hunter Hayes
JT Hodges
David Nail
Jerrod Niemann
Justin Moore
Scotty McCreery
Thompson Square

As we reported in November, the ACM revamped the New Artist award into a single, combined category. The New Artist of the Year award absorbs all previous newcomer honors including New Male Vocalist, New Female Vocalist, New Vocal Duo, New Vocal Group, and so on. The eight artists listed above will compete via the GAC fan vote, combined with the ACM professional membership vote to determine the final three nominees. Those three nominees will compete for the trophy through a combination of fan and professional voting.

The 47th Academy of Country Music Awards will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 1 and be broadcast live at 8 PM/ET on CBS. Reba and Blake Shelton have been tapped to reprise their co-hosting duties from the 2011 show.