Taylor Swift Named Entertainer of the Year at 2012 ACM Awards

Sun, 01 April 2012 23:36:20 ET

Scotty McCreery grabs his first ACM award by winning the Top New Artist gong, while Blake Shelton and his wife Miranda Lambert win the Top Male and Female Vocalist awards respectively.

Taylor Swift has once again being hailed Entertainer of the Year. The "Mean" hitmaker won the top prize at the 2012 Academy of Country Music Awards for the second consecutive year. Upon receiving the prestigious award on Sunday, April 1, the blond beauty enthused, "Thank you so much to the fans who voted for this."

"I am so happy about this! I want to say to my fellow nominees in this category, I respect you so much I love you," Swift, who defeated Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley and Kenny Chesney in the category, added. "We work hard and we try to give back, and recently I've become aware of a different struggle that's going on."

The 22-year-old singer continued, "My date tonight was supposed to be a high school football player named Kevin McGuire, and he's not here, but I promised to give him a shout out. So Kevin, all your family and friends, thank you for wanting to take me to the ACMs."

Though he lost the top prize from Swift, Shelton took home the Top Male Vocalist award. "I didn't see that cominbg at all," Shelton said on his speech. "I was sitting back there repeating the lines to Dierks [Bentley's] song, 'It's been a long hard ride, got a ways to go', and that is how I feel tonight." His wife Miranda Lambert, in the meantime, bagged the Top Female Vocalist kudo.

Lambert also won the Album of the Year award. Upon receiving the kudo, the "Baggage Claim" singer said, "I won every record in this category, and I've been listening and listening and thinking, 'Man, I'm not gonna get it.' Everyone of your record is amazing, and I'm so thrilled. I will never take this trophy for granted. My albums are my babies."

On the other hand, Scotty McCreery grabbed his first ACM award by winning the fan-voted Top New Artist trophy. "First off, I've just gotta say that it's an honore to be [nominated] with Brantley [Gilbert] and Hunter [Hayes]. Those guys are incredible artists," so the winner of the tenth season of "American Idol" said on stage. "I've gotta thank my good Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ - He got me here."

This year's ACM Awards was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Other winners at the prize-giving event included Lady Antebellum who nabbed the Top Vocal Group kudo, and Jason Aldean who won Single Record and Vocal Event awards for his single "Don't You Wanna Say", which features Kelly Clarkson.

2012 ACM Awards Winners:

Entertainer of the Year: Taylor Swift
Top Male Vocalist of the Year: Blake Shelton
Top Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert
Top Vocal Duo of the Year: Thompson Square
Top Vocal Group of the Year: Lady Antebellum
Top New Artist: Scotty McCreery
Album of the Year: "Four the Record" - Miranda Lambert
Single of the Year: "Don't You Wanna Stay" - Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson
Song of the Year: "Crazy Girls" - Eli Young Band
Video of the Year: "Red Solo Cup" - Toby Keith
Vocal Event of the Year: "Don't You Wanna Stay" Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson