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| 2007 Great Lakes Songwriting Contest The deadline for entries in the 2007 Great Lakes Songwriting Contest is less than two months away. The regional contest, now in its second year, is now open to current residents of the eight Great Lakes states and the Province of Ontario. Thirteen winning songs will be chosen this year, and the Grand Prize has been increased to $1, 500 cash, with additional publicity and promotional opportunities. Entries must be postmarked on or before April 14. "A lot of great music has come out of our part of the world, from Motown to Prairie Home Companion to Chicago Blues and New York jazz, " says contest spokesman Bill Frank. "It's produced big names like Bob Dylan, Prince, Madonna, the Barenaked Ladies, and Jars of Clay, just to name a few. But some of the best music is written by the locally known, little-known, and unknown songwriters, and that's what we're looking for." The contest is sponsored by Songbridge, the music marketing company based in Ontario, Canada; Elderly Instruments of Lansing (MI); and Lamb's Retreat for Songwriters of Royal Oak (MI).The contest is organized by The Michigan Songwriters, the Ann Arbor-based cooperative that previously sponsored the Metro Detroit and Michigan Songwriting Contests. The group expanded to the Great Lakes region for the first time last year, and the contest drew about 500 entries. The 2007 contest is open to all ages and all styles of music. Songwriters are not forced to pick a particular category for their songs. Each song is judged on its own merits, not by how well it conforms to the conventions of a certain genre of music. There are no age limits, and past winners have ranged from teenagers to senior citizens. Rules, entry forms, and information on the 2006 winners can be found on the contest website, www.GreatLakesSongs.com. There were 11 winners in 2006, including a retired Marine Corps captain from Minnesota, a recent graduate of Northwestern University, a Chicago novelist, a college student from the Detroit suburbs, and a former child actress from New York City. Six of the winners performed to a standing-room-only crowd at the annual Winners' Showcase Concert on February 17, 2007, at the Trinity House Theatre in Livonia, MI. The 2006 winners were: Jen Cass (Grand Prize) of Bay City, MI; Whit Hill of Ann Arbor; Michael Mahler, Bruce Holmes, and Mike Silovich of Chicago; Rachanee of Lansing. MI; Leo Clark of Burnsville, MN; Roger MacNaughton of Grand Rapids, MI; Joe Crookston of Ithaca, NY; Patrick Power of East Lansing, MI; and Rachele Eve of Plymouth, MI. The four judges for the 2006 contest were: Philadelphia's Freebo, the singer-songwriter and long-time bass player for Bonnie Raitt; Chicago's Rich Warren, host of the syndicated radio show "The Midnight Special"; Toronto's Jodi Krangle, proprietress of "The Muse's Muse" songwriters' website, internet radio show and electronic newsletter; and Central Michigan's Dan Bracken, a songwriter and one of the organizers of the Wheatland Music Festival in Remus, MI. The 2007 judges will be announced when the winners are announced, in October 2007. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Jazz News :: home page |