Just Sam Wins American Idol Season 3 and the 7th female winner

American Idol crowned Just Sam as the season 3 winner during a live (and remote!) virtual episode. The New York native won over fans and the judges with her beautiful voice throughout the whole show.

“My grandmother has been saying that she doesn’t believe that people like us can have their dreams come true,” Just Sam, also known as Samantha Diaz, previously said on Idol. “This is proof to her!”

“I kept on pushing, kept on singing and look where it’s brought me,” the former subway singer 20, said. “I hope to inspire all the little girl who believe their dreams can’t come true. Anyone can do it.”

Sunday’s season 3 virtual finale, featured a star-studded lineup and impeccable performances by Academy Award nominee Cynthia Erivo, Grammy winner Lauren Daigle, Rascal Flatts and Doug Kiker.

Bryan will perform his new single “One Margarita” while Perry is set to perform her new single “Daisies” crafted especially for Idol in its first-ever TV debut.

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest and judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan spoke about how the show had to go on virtually with contestants and viewers because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We put the show together earlier in the week because there are so many factors to it,” Seacrest, 45, told PEOPLE. “It’s technically not possible to do it all live obviously. Every once in a while we have to be careful not to step on each other while we’re talking because there’s that delay that we’ve all experienced talking to our families at home on different Zooms and things like that.”

Given the circumstances, judges were forced to adjust their tactics.

“But it’s working,” Seacrest added. “The contestants are getting a chance to do this in a way that we’ve never thought about before. At the end, we’ll get a winner. I think we have a real show to have someone that gets into the music world to make a name for themselves.”