Female artists snubbed
Organization nominates only men for entertainer of the year category
Although country stars Maren Morris and Chris Stapleton led Friday’s Academy of Country Music nominations with six apiece, the organization has again shut out female artists from its top category: entertainer of the year.
This year’s nominees for that race include Stapleton, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett.
The academy recognized that it snubbed female nominees for entertainer of the year but touted the number of women in other categories and how that reflects a changing tide in male-dominated country music.
“While our entertainer-of-theyear category is dominated by male artists this year, the academy is thrilled to recognize all of our deserving nominees and to celebrate two important female firsts: For the first time ever, the single-of-the-year category features all female artists and the audio engineer of the year category includes its first-ever female nominee,” said Damon Whiteside, chief executive of the Academy of Country Music, in a statement to the Los Angeles Times Friday.
Whiteside said the overall ACM artist nominees this year are 43% female and bests the academy’s fiveyear average of 34%.
“Some of the other great stories are that our reigning entertainer of the year is Carrie Underwood, Maren Morris is tied for most nominations this year, and Miranda Lambert continues her reign as the most-nominated artist in ACM Awards history,” Whiteside added. “These are all very positive signs of the continued importance and recognition of women in Country.”