In everyday talk, awfully most often just means “very.” Awfully sorry. Awfully kind. Awfully tired. It is a polite, slightly old-fashioned booster — you hear it more from adults than from teenagers, who may prefer so, really, or super. It is common in British English and still used in American English, especially in set phrases like “awfully sorry.” Though actually the word still wears an older coat: “He played awfully” can mean “he played very badly,” because awful itself means “very bad.” Context tells you which job the word is doing. “Awfully nice” is almost never an insult; it is a warm, slightly old-school way to say “very nice.” In careful school writing, teachers often prefer very or extremely, because awfully can sound chatty — or, if the reader takes the dark meaning, confusing. The sense you need here is the booster: it turns the next word up, it does not by itself say that something is terrible.