2016 Golden Boot Awards: Vote Now for New Artist of the Year

The Golden Boot Awards, The Boot’s fan-voted digital awards, are back for a third year in 2016. Each of this year's eight categories features staff-selected nominees who made waves in the country music world from May 2015 through April 2016. Readers can vote for their favorites in each category as often as once per hour through 11:59PM ET on June 5. We'll announce the winners on the site the following Monday (June 6).

One of the most exciting aspects of the music industry is seeing all of the new artists bursting onto the scene. In country music, there are a plethora of talented singers making a name for themselves -- and six of them are vying for the Golden Boot Awards' New Artist of the Year honor.

Kelsea Ballerini has been setting records since she debuted with "Love Me Like You Mean It." The rising star has two gold singles, is the 2016 ACM Awards New Female Vocalist of the Year and was tapped to tour with Rascal Flatts this summer. Meanwhile, Chris Stapleton is a force of his own. There aren't many new artists who sweep their CMA Awards categories, win two Grammys and tie Garth Brooks and Faith Hill for the number of ACMs won in a single evening, but Stapleton is that artist.

Chris Janson first gained attention with his single "Buy Me a Boat," and he was nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year at the 2016 ACM Awards. Cam's "Burning House" also quickly became a fan favorite -- and it garnered the attention of Brad Paisley, whom she toured with, and Dierks Bentley, whom she's heading out with this summer.

Old Dominion won New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year at the ACM Awards this year, and the "Break Up With Him" hitmakers also toured with -- and are back on the road with -- Kenny Chesney. And A Thousand Horses grabbed fans' attention with "Smoke," and they're touring with Jason Aldean -- a pretty big acclaim in and of itself.

Who's your New Artist of the Year pick?

Please note: Cheating will not be tolerated, and any voter found to be cheating will have their votes disqualified. A captcha has been put in place to prevent cheating. If you cannot read the captcha, press the top blue button next to it to refresh to a new one, or press the middle blue button to have the polling system read the captcha to you.