The 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards will be taking place live at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas this Sunday, April 3 at 8 p.m. The ACM awards will be hosted by Blake Shelton and country music singer Reba McEntire. This will be the 13th year that McEntire has hosted the award show.
The mission of the Academy of Country Music is to promote the country music industry while engaging fans from coast to coast. There are 12 categories for which awards will be given, a few of them having already been announced. The nominees for the Entertainer of the Year Award are Jason Aldean, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban, most of which are also nominated for awards in the categories of Top Male/Female Vocalists of the Year with the addition of Blake Shelton, George Strait, Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood and Lee Ann Womack.
Grammy Award winning group, Lady Antebellum is nominated for Top Vocal Group of the Year, which they won an ACM for in 2010. Little Big Town, Randy Rogers Band, The Band Perry and the Zac Brown Band are also nominated in this category.
The Academy of Country Music Special Awards are awards chosen by the Board of Directors and are not televised during the live show due to lack of time. Among the many selected artists, the Career Achievement Award will be received by Reba McEntire, the Jim Reeves National Award has been given to Taylor Swift for helping spread the love of country music around the world, and the 2010 film Country Strong has been awarded the Tex Ritter Award. There are many other artists that will be receiving Special Awards this year and can be found on the ACM website.
This is the fourth year where it has been up to the fans to select who will win the Entertainer of the Year Award. Categories for Top New Solo Vocalist and Top New Vocal Duo or Group are also being selected by the fans this year and will be announced during the show Sunday night.
Visit the ACM website to see the full list of nominees and the winners for the MBI(Musician/Bandleader/Instrumentalist)/Industry and special awards. Make sure you tune in to CBS Sunday at 8 p.m. to see for yourself who takes home the awards.