Each year during AmericanaFest, the Americana Honors & Awards ceremony recognizes outstanding artists and contributions within the format. With every new iteration of the awards show comes a new crop of exciting developments and groundbreaking artists, and 2019 is no exception.

The nominees list saw a major switch-up between 2018 and 2019: Last year's biggest winner, Jason Isbell, is notably absent from the list. Meanwhile, female and racial minority artists shine, with women dominating in five of the event's six categories and the percentage of non-white nominees jumping from 4.1 percent in 2018 to 26.6 percent in 2019.

Kacey Musgraves, Brandi Carlile and John Prine are all up for big awards at the 2019 Americana Music Awards. The category of Emerging Artist of the Year is especially competitive, too, with Yola, J.S. Ondara, Erin Rae, the War and Treaty and Jade Bird all vying for the trophy. The nominees list is full of deserving artists all around, but these are The Boot's predictions for who will win in 2019.

The 2019 Americana Honors & Awards ceremony is set to take place on Wednesday (Sept. 11), at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. AmericanaFest 2019 runs from Sept. 10 through Sept. 15.

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