LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — On Tuesday, the Academy of Country Music announced the winners of the 2020 Industry Awards, with Live Nation’s Brian O’Connell taking top honors for Promoter of the Year.
Neste Live’s Gil Cunningham was named at the ACM’s talent buyer of the year and busbee was honored posthumously at the ACM’s producer of the year.
The awards for venues of the year skewed towards the iconic in 2020, with Madison Square Garden taking top honors for arena of the year, the Beacon Theatre in New York named theater of the year, and Joe’s Live in Rosemont named club of the year.
Festival of the year (in the year without festivals) went to Tortuga Music Festival, which takes place most years in Ft. Lauderdale.
“A huge congratulations to this year’s Industry and Studio Recording Award winners. In recognition of the recent announcement of the re-opening of our ACM Lifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund which has already raised $3.5MM to aid our industry, it is especially fitting to acknowledge these deserving winners this year, and we are excited to properly recognize them in person in Nashville next August 2021 at the 14th ACM Honors,” said Damon Whiteside, CEO of the Academy of Country Music. “Never has there been a more important time to recognize these individuals and highlight our industry’s on-going dedication and innovation throughout this difficult year. Our community has been devastated by the pandemic, and we can’t wait to see it come back stronger than ever in 2021.”
The awards were announced by the ACM’s reigning new male artist and female artists of the years Riley Green and Tenille Townes.
2020 Industry Awards, 2020 and 2021 Studio Recording Awards along with Special Award recipients (to be announced next Spring) will be honored during the 14th ACM HONORS™, an evening dedicated to recognizing the special honorees and off-camera category winners from the 55th & 56th ACM Awards.
There will not be 2021 Industry Award recipients as eligibility requirements were unable to be met due to the live entertainment shutdown caused by the pandemic.
INDUSTRY AWARDS:
CASINO OF THE YEAR – THEATER: The Joint: Tulsa – Tulsa, OK
CASINO OF THE YEAR – ARENA: MGM Grand Garden Arena – Las Vegas, NV
FAIR/RODEO OF THE YEAR: Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo – Houston, TX
FESTIVAL OF THE YEAR: Tortuga Music Festival – Fort Lauderdale, FL
CLUB OF THE YEAR: Joe’s Live – Rosemont, IL
THEATER OF THE YEAR: The Beacon Theatre – New York, NY
OUTDOOR VENUE OF THE YEAR: Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO
ARENA OF THE YEAR: Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
DON ROMEO TALENT BUYER OF THE YEAR: Gil Cunningham – Neste Live!
PROMOTER OF THE YEAR: Brian O’Connell – Live Nation
STUDIO RECORDING AWARDS:
BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jimmie Lee Sloas
DRUMMER OF THE YEAR: Miles McPherson
GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Rob McNelley
PIANO/KEYBOARDS PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Gordon Mote
SPECIALTY INSTRUMENT(S) PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jenee Fleenor
STEEL GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Paul Franklin
AUDIO ENGINEER OF THE YEAR: Justin Niebank
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR: busbee (Awarded Posthumously)
