NASHVILLE – Country Star Chris Young presented respected journalist Cindy Watts with the 2015 CMA Media Achievement Award on the Red Carpet Wednesday night prior to the start of “The 49th Annual CMA Awards.”
“I grew up watching the CMAs in Sevierville and remember laying on my stomach on the floor waiting to see who would win,” said Watts. “I never imagined one day I’d win an award from the same organization. It’s completely surreal. For Chris to have worked this into his crazy busy schedule means so much. It truly was the most perfect moment.”
“Cindy is respected in the industry for her passion for the music and artists, her tenacity, creativity, and professionalism,” said Wendy Pearl, CMA Vice President of Corporate Communications. “She sets a very high standard for journalistic coverage of Country Music and is very deserving of this honor.”
Watts has been covering music in Middle Tennessee for 15 years. She started her career at The Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro as a sophomore at MTSU where she was a Recording Industry major. She spent seven years at the DNJ covering music in Middle Tennessee including concerts, music news, and album releases before moving to The Tennessean in 2007.
Since joining the paper, Watts has assumed responsibility of the bulk of Country Music coverage including festivals, awards shows, music news, personality profiles, trend stories, and more. She works closely with artists and their teams to find compelling, relatable stories and strives to tell them honestly and accurately.
The CMA Media Achievement Award was established to recognize outstanding achievements in the media as they relate to Country Music. Print and Internet journalists, columnists, authors, and editors; television writers, producers and bookers; and syndicated radio reporters are eligible to win this award.
A task force of industry publicists nominates a slate of five candidates for consideration by CMA member publicists. The publicists select the winner, which is presented to the CMA Awards and Recognition Committee and then approved by the CMA Board of Directors.
Past winners of the Media Achievement Award include:
1982 Jack Hurst
1983 Neil Hickey
1984 Dolly Carlisle
1985 Red O’Donnell
1986 No Award
1987 David Zimmerman
1988 Robert K. Oermann
1989 Bob Claypool
1990 Dick Heard
1991 No Award
1992 Mark McEwen
1993 Lynn Lester
1994 Judy Massa
1995 Clay Smith
1996 Tisi Aylward
1997 Jay Orr
1998 Chet Flippo
1999 Hazel Smith
2000 Neil Pond
2001 Harry Chapman
2002 Jim Patterson
2003 Denise Quan
2004 Alanna Nash
2005 Mark Bracco
2006 Donna Hughes
2007 Storme Warren
2008 Monica Escobedo
2009 Cynthia Sanz
2010 Beville Darden
2011 Ashley Dvorkin
2012 Jennifer Meyer and Ray Sells
2013 Deborah Evans Price
2014 Chuck Dauphin
