Megan Moroney, Nate Smith, and Tigirlily Gold Announced as New Artist of the Year Winners for the 59th ACM Awards

The winners of the ACM New Artist of the Year categories were announced during the Live from the ACM Awards: ACM New Artist Winners Celebration, part of the ACM Country Kickoff fan festival at The Star, with Megan Moroney winning ACM New Female Artist of the Year, Nate Smith winning ACM New Male Artist of the Year, and Tigirlily Gold winning ACM New Duo or Group of the Year.

The celebration capped off the first day of the Kickoff festival, with the announcement and subsequent live performances from all three winners streamed live on the Amazon Music Channel on Twitch and hosted by Amber Anderson and Kelly Sutton of Amazon Music’s Country Heat. Additionally, with their wins, each artist will perform Thursday as part of the ACM Awards show programming. Megan Moroney will have a performance featured during the ACM Awards Red Carpet Show, Nate Smith will make his ACM Awards performance debut in a special collaboration with Avril Lavigne, and Tigirlily Gold will take the ACM Awards stage for the first time.

ACM Awards Week will continue Wednesday with the second day of the ACM Country Kickoff at The Star, featuring a newly announced festival closer performance from ACM Award winner Scotty McCreery; ACM Songs & Stories brunch, powered by The Bluebird Cafe and Nashville Songwriters Association International, celebrating the nominees for ACM Songwriter of the Year and Artist-Songwriter of the Year; and Parker McCollum and Friends: ACM Lifting Lives LIVE, Presented by Choctaw Casinos & Resorts, out on the green at Topgolf – The Colony and benefiting the philanthropic partner of the Academy of Country Music. VIP tickets for the ACM Country Kickoff and tickets to the ACM Songs & Stories Brunch can be purchased HERE. Tickets to Parker McCollum and Friends all-star fundraiser concert for ACM Lifting Lives can be purchased HERE. ACM Awards Week culminates with the 59th Academy of Country Music Awards on Thursday, May 16, live from the Ford Center at The Star.

The ACM Awards will kick off with the Official ACM Awards Red Carpet Show presented by Prime Video and Amazon Music, featuring a performance by Megan Moroney, and will air on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch starting at 7 p.m. EDT.

Hosted by 16-time ACM Award-winning entertainment icon, Reba McEntire, the 59th ACM Awards will stream live feature performances from Jason Aldean, Kane Brown, Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Post Malone, Parker McCollum, Thomas Rhett, Chris Stapleton, and Lainey Wilson, as well as a show stopping performance featuring brand new music from Reba McEntire. Additionally, the show will feature must-see duets from Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan; Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani; and Nate Smith featuring Avril Lavigne.

Plus, five-time ACM Awards winner for National On-Air Personality of the Year, Bobby Bones will be featured throughout the night. The segment, “Backstage with Bobby Bones,” will showcase intimate artist interviews and special moments of the show.

The ACM Awards will be free to stream live exclusively for a global audience across 240+ countries and territories on Prime Video from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas on Thursday, May 16 at 8 p.m. EDT / 7 p.m. CDT / 5 p.m. PDT. A Prime membership will not be required to watch live, everyone is invited to the Party of the Year. Fans can also watch the show on the Amazon Music channel on Twitch.

A limited number of new seats to the 59th ACM Awards have just been released for purchase on SeatGeek, offering fans exclusive entry into a nonstop party packed with their favorite Country stars performing the biggest hits from the last year and seats closer to the action than ever.