Megan Moroney Recalls Interning for Sugarland’s Kristian Bush While Accepting New Artist of the Year at the 2024 CMAs

Megan Moroney came out on top — and had a special person to thank!

The country star, 27, took home the CMA Award for new artist of the year at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, after being nominated alongside Shaboozey, Nate Smith, Mitchell Tenpenny, Zach Top and Bailey Zimmerman.

“I just want to get through this without crying,” Moroney said while accepting her award. “Thank you, Jesus, for putting this dream on my heart and thank you for the gift of songwriting.”

The rising country star — who also performed her hit “Am I Okay?” during the show — continued to dedicate her award to those who support her.

“This is for my fans. I would say they’re a large reason why I’m up here right now,” Moroney said. “The way they show up for me, the way they care about my songs, and they make signs and T-shirts, and they wait outside the venue starting at 3 a.m. It’s really insane to me.”

She then gave a shout-out to her “incredible team,” including her managers and her record labels, Columbia Records and Sony Music Nashville.

Moroney also mentioned her special connection to Sugarland singer Kristian Bush, who produced her two albums Lucky and Am I Okay?.

“Thank you for letting me be your intern at the University of Georgia so many years ago,” she said to Bush, adding “Go, Dawgs!” in reference to her alma mater.

The country singer concluded: “Thank you so much, country radio, CMAs. Thank you so much. I’m freaking out.”

Moroney earned three nominations at this year’s awards show including female vocalist of the year, music video of the year (“I’m Not Pretty”) and new artist of the year, which she landed for the second year in a row. Throughout her career, she’s earned five CMA Awards nominations. Moroney released her sophomore album Am I Okay? in July and followed it up with the deluxe edition Am I Okay? (I’ll Be Fine) in October 2024.

Check out all of PEOPLE’s full CMA Awards coverage here.  

Moroney opened up to PEOPLE about her and Bush’s creative partnership this summer.

“I grew up a Sugarland fan, and I started as Kristian and his brother Brandon’s publishing intern at the University of Georgia for the music business program,” she told PEOPLE at the time. “I didn’t tell them that I was pursuing music because I literally walked in and saw a Grammy on the wall, and I was like, ‘OK, I’m shutting up. I’m not going to tell them I’m an “aspiring songwriter” because I’ve written three mediocre songs.'”

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This year’s nominee list is star-studded but notably doesn’t include Beyoncé. Leading the nominations is Morgan Wallen with seven nods, followed by Chris Stapleton and Cody Johnson with five nominations.

Luke Bryan, who is hosting the event for the fourth year in a row alongside Peyton Manning and Lainey Wilson, will also perform his No. 1 hit “Love You, Miss You, Mean It” at the CMA Awards.

The 58th Annual CMA Awards broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 20 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on ABC. The show streams the following day on Hulu.