Instead, after a video recognizing her many accomplishments on the ACMs stage, the multi-platinum superstar was awarded by none other than her mother, Andrea Swift.

The moment was particularly poignant, not just because of her mom's emotional giving of thanks to the country music community for taking her daughter in so many years ago, including recounting the time she wrote "Love Story" when she was "mad, real mad" at her parents for disapproving of a boy she liked. It was also the first major appearance of Andrea Swift since her daughter revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer.