The CMA Horizon Award is awarded to the artist, whether individual or a group of two or more, who has demonstrated the most significant creative growth and development in overall chart and sales activity, live performance, professionalism and critical media recognition.

Only one of the nominees for the Horizon Award has been previously nominated for a CMA Award. Which nominee is it?

Answer: Little Big Town has been nominated in both the Vocal Group of the Year and Horizon Award categories in 2006 and 2007. The other four candidates are first-time CMA Award nominees.

Which Horizon Award nominee has recently launched a statewide campaign to combat Internet crimes against children in Tennessee?

Answer: Taylor Swift has teamed with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen and the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police to create the “Delete Online Predators” campaign. The program’s purpose is to educate parents and children about the dangers of predators lurking online. One of the campaign’s goals is to get 150,000 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders to take the NetSmartz Safety Pledge, produced by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Swift hopes to influence her many young fans by encouraging them to become assertive Internet users.

Which current Horizon Award nominee’s latest album features a duet with a past Horizon Award nominee?

Answer: Jason Aldean released his second album Relentless in May 2007, featuring a duet entitled “Grown Woman” with two-time Horizon Award nominee Miranda Lambert, who was nominated for the Horizon Award in 2005 and 2006. This year, Lambert received her first Female Vocalist of the Year nomination.

Which nominee for the 2007 Horizon Award is the spokesperson for a national adoption campaign?

Answer: Rodney Atkins was named as the 2007-2008 National Spokesperson of the Year by the National Council for Adoption. Rodney hopes to raise awareness of important adoption and foster care issues in the U.S., as there are 513,000 children in foster care and 114,000 available for adoption. Rodney was adopted into his family as an infant and sincerely believes in the benefits of adoption. He desires that other children will be able to benefit from the same kind of care he was privileged to have.

Which 2007 Horizon Award nominee entered a local Miss America pageant in order to win scholarship money for cosmetology school?

Answer: Kellie Pickler competed in the “Miss Stanley County” pageant, a local Miss America Competition, at age 17 and won the title. She hoped that the scholarship money would pay for her education at Stanley Community College’s School of Cosmetology. Little did she know the success that “American Idol” and the her recording career would bring to her beginning in 2006!