Cole Swindell needs to make some room in his trophy case after winning Songwriter/Artist of the Year Sunday night (Oct. 9). Swindell was presented the award by the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) during the 46th Anniversary Hall of Fame Gala, held at the Music City Center.

"There's so many people that could be sitting here and the fact that it's me is unbelievable," Swindell said, addressing the event crowd via video message. “It’s the biggest honor of my career by far because I moved to this town to be a songwriter."

The singer was unable to accept his award in person due to his position as an opener for Florida Georgia Line on their Dig Your Roots Tour.

Over the last three years, 33-year-old Swindell has penned eight No. 1 singles and been the artist on five of them, including "You Should Be Here," "Let Me See You Girl," "Hope You Get Lonely Tonight," "Ain't Worth the Whiskey" and "Chillin' It."

"I remember being more starstruck by the songwriters than the artists singing them because that's who I wanted to be," he continued. "All I ever wanted to do was write songs when I moved here. I wanted a record deal but never dreamed of getting one."

This isn't the only award Swindell was in the running for this fall. On Nov. 2, the "Middle of a Memory" singer will attend the 2016 CMA Awards as a New Artist of the Year nominee.

"Any time you get nominated for anything in the industry, that’s huge," he says. "To have the New Artist thing, we’ll see. I’m just glad I still make the qualifications with that. We’ll see what happens with that."

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