Taylor Swift to Receive Pinnacle Award During ‘The 47th Annual CMA Awards’

CMA will present the Pinnacle Award to Nashville’s own global sensation Taylor Swift during “The 47th Annual CMA Awards” airing live Wednesday (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) on the ABC Television Network.

The Award recognizes an artist who has achieved both national and international prominence through concert performances and record sales at levels unique in country music. The artist has also attained the highest degree of recognition within the broad expanse of music worldwide. The artist’s talent and presence will have a long-term positive impact on the appreciation of Country Music for generations to come.

“I can’t think of a better opportunity than ‘Country Music’s Biggest Night™’ to present an award of this magnitude to an artist of this caliber,” said CMA President of the Board Ed Hardy. “I’ve known Taylor since she was 16. She came to my office with her Mom to play her music and I was amazed. Taylor’s outstanding career epitomizes the definition of the Pinnacle Award.”

Swift, who writes all of her own songs, has six CMA Awards nominations in 2013 including Entertainer of the Year; Female Vocalist of the Year; Album of the Year (for her six million-selling RED); and three nominations for “Highway Don’t Care” with Tim McGraw and Keith Urban for Single, Musical Event, and Music Video of the Year. Swift now has 21 CMA Awards nominations and seven wins including her first in 2007 for the Horizon Award (now New Artist of the Year) and two for Entertainer of the Year (2009, 2011), which ties her with Barbara Mandrell for wins in that category by a female artist.

She was previously announced as a performer on the CMA Awards in a star-studded collaboration with Alison Krauss, CMA Musical Event of the Year nominee Vince Gill, CMA Musician of the Year nominee Sam Bush, bassist Edgar Meyer, and percussionist Eric Darken.

The Pinnacle Award was created in 2005 when it was presented to Garth Brooks, the only other recipient.