The Academy of Country Music announced today that Brantley Gilbert, Hunter Hayes and Scotty McCreery are the final nominees for this year’s ACM new artist of the year award, which will be given out during the 47th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas April 1 on the CBS Television Network. The three artists emerged from a pack of semi-finalists that also included JT Hodges, David Nail, Jerrod Niemann, Justin Moore, and Thompson Square.
 
The new artist category is fan voted. The round of voting that will determine the eventual winner will take place at www.VoteACM.com beginning March 19 at noon (ET), and will continue until 5:00 p.m. on the day of the show. The final nominees were chosen by the combined vote of the fans and professional members of the Academy of Country Music. Professional member votes will also be combined with fan votes to determine the winner.