The Academy of Country Music is making some changes to some of their major award categories for 2010...

Instead of the traditional five nominees, The Entertainer of the Year category will now have slots for eight acts to be nominated. In the New Artist categories, the Top New Male Vocalist and Top New Female Vocalist categories will be combined to form the single Top New Solo Vocalist category, and the Top New Vocal Duo or Group category will be split into Top New Vocal Duo and Top New Group. The finalists in all three newcomer categories will still compete for the Top New Artist award, and both Entertainer of the Year and Top New Artist will also remain open to fan voting next year.