San Diego Songwriter's Guild

2010 Song Contest Winners Announced

The 2010 SDSG Song Contest, our 19th annual such event, was a great success.  Thanks to our judges Dave Blackburn, Jeff McCullough, Sandi Shaner, and Diane Waters, as well as our sponsors, and, of course, the contestants whose submissions were of a uniformly high caliber.  Less than 10 points separated this year’s top song from the next 15 entries.  What an interesting, original, and well-written collection of music we heard!

Special Thanks go to our SDSG Support Team who pulled yeoman’s duty as our sign in and tabulation crew;  they kept things cool at what could have been major stress points.  John Pape, SDSG’s Webmaster, entered all the data generated by our panel of judges and prepared entrants’ CDs and lyric sheets for the judges and me; and Richard and Susan Widney rolled through the sign-in table storm in style, doing a wonderful job making sure every entry was accounted for.

Finally, I’d like to personally thank Mr. Widney for his support for SDSG.  Over a span of many years, Richard has served the Guild as President and Treasurer, and has been among the most reliable, conscientious, and diligent partners with which I have ever had the pleasure of working.  With this Contest’s conclusion, Richard will be leaving the SDSG Board.  He will be most dearly missed.  Thank you Richard for your service and camaraderie, and best wishes to you, Susan, and your family for the years ahead!

Mark Charles Hattersley
SDSG Advisor

Grand Prize “Platinum” Winner
Anthony Plourd Lite It Up
$500 from SDSG
Full-Day Production Session with Jeff McCullough of Tree Hill Media

Second Prize “Gold” Winner
Jim Arnegard Same Old Tears
Six Hour Recording Session at Signature Sound
CD Cover/Logo from Beach City Graphics

Third Prize “Silver” Winner
Olivia Bonilla Not This Time
Three Hour Production Session with Mark Charles Hattersley of Club Bohemia Productions

On February 23, 2009, a talented group of musicians submitted recordings for the review of a panel of judges, with the six top entrants being selected to move on the 2009 SDSG Performing Songwriters Contest finals. At the end of the listening session, the judges commented on the overall quality of the submissions, noting that everyone who came out presented strong material with professional recording quality predominating. As one who can recall the days of cassette submissions being the norm, it was gratifying to hear the solid, well-crafted material that was presented. Kudos to all our contestants for a job well done!

Our judges still had to select top entries to move on to the Belly Up and the contest finals; they picked seven top songs from the 32 entrants. Scoring was very tight, with only a few points separating songs in the scoring.

Slated to perform at the Belly Up on Tuesday March 3, 2009 are Allegra and the Allegra Collective, Blues Lyne, Candice Graham, Kerri Dopart, Lindsay White, Reverend Stickman, and Steven Ybarra. The winner of the Contest finals will receive a Six-Hour Studio West Recording Session, a 500 CD Package from CDRollout.com, and $250 in cash from SDSG.

Our panel of judges for the Qualification Session at Country Inn and Suites included SDSG President Sandi Shaner, SDSG Vice President Tim Turner, former SDSG President Bridget Brigitte, and Contest Sponsor Studio West’s Kyle Z. Helmstetter.

Board Members John Pape and Richard Widney, assisted by SDSG associate Barby Hattersley, diligently ran the sign-ins, organized the entries and handled the housekeeping chores as the judges reviewed our contestants’ songs.

Mark Hattersley served as the Contest MC and handled sound for the session.

We couldn’t do an event like this without the support of our members and our generous sponsors. Thank you KPRi 102.1 FM, CDRollout.com and Studio West for your support for this event. And thanks to Country Inn and Suites for your proving us with a fine venue for the listening session.

Finally, thanks to everyone who entered and attended our 2009 Performing Songwriters Contest. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming events… we’ll see you there!

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