Kiwi Songwriters Through to International Competition Final
For Immediate Release - February 7, 2006 - The International Songwriting Competition (ISC) is pleased to announce its 2005 finalists, and as usual, New Zealand songwriters did extremely well in the competition, with 5 songwriters making it to the finals. Could this be the third year in a row a New Zealander takes home the ISC Overall Grand Prize of $10,000 cash and over $25,000 in merchandise? Finalists were selected out of almost 15,000 entries from 80 countries and represent the top 1.4% of all entries submitted (see below for the list of New Zealand finalists).
The following are the 2005 ISC finalists from New Zealand:
Do You Feel The Cold?
Pop/Top 40
Peter Rudd {Tourist}
Auckland
Made Up My Mind
Gospel/Christian
Roger Angove/Aaron Healy/Michael Page/Duncan Pankhurst {Zebulun}
Auckland
Sense Got Out
AAA/Roots/Americana
Wayne Mason
Paekakariki
Til Now
AAA/Roots/Americana
Damien Binder and Bob Shepheard {Damien Binder}
Sydney
Maybe Tomorrow
Pop/Top 40
Geoff Maddock {Goldenhorse}
Auckland
The finalists' songs are currently in the judges' hands, and winners will be announced in March 2006, when the ISC judges have made their decision. ISC's judges include the presidents of ten record labels and esteemed artists such as Loretta Lynn, Sonny Rollins, Tom Waits, Amy Ray (Indigo Girls), Steve Vai, Darryl McDaniels (Run DMC) and many more. Over $150,000 in cash and merchandise will be awarded to 50 winners, including the top honor of ISC 2005 Overall Grand Prize winner.
Impressively, songwriters from New Zealand won the ISC Grand Prize not only in 2003 (Moana Maniapoto - "Moko"), but also in 2004 (Virginia Wigmore - "Hallelujah"). The ISC Grand Prize package is carefully put together to benefit the winning songwriter and maximize his or her songwriting career, including: $10,000 cash (US), a college radio promotion campaign, legal services from a music attorney, a CD duplication package, premium recording software and hardware, music and recording equipment, and much more.
The 2005 ISC finalists' songs are also listed online for the 2005 People's Voice - an online voting contest that allows the public to listen to and vote for their favorite ISC finalist. The winner of the People's Voice is selected solely by public vote and is in addition to, and completely separate from, the regular winners who will be selected by the prestigious ISC judging panel. Visit http://www.songwritingcompetition.com/pvwelcome_2005.htm to listen to the 2005 ISC finalists' songs and cast your vote!
Judges for the 2005 competition include: Tom Waits; Loretta Lynn; Sonny Rollins; John Scofield; Steve Vai; Macy Gray; Joss Stone; MercyMe; Amy Ray (Indigo Girls); Darryl McDaniels (Run D.M.C.); LeAnn Rimes; Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse); Jeff Stinco (Simple Plan); BeBe Winans; Peter Hook (New Order); Benji Madden (Good Charlotte); Charlie Musselwhite; The Donnas; Monte Lipman (President, Universal Records); Keith Wozencroft (President, Capitol Music UK); Glen Barros (CEO/President, Concord Records); Bruce Iglauer (Founder/President, Alligator Records); Cameron Strang (President, New West Records); Dan Storper (President, Putumayo World Music); Michael McDonald (President, ATO Records); Alexandra Patsavas (Owner, The Chop Shop Music Supervision - credits include The OC, Grey's Anatomy, Without A Trace, Carnivale, Rescue Me ); Darrale Jones (VP A&R Urban, Atlantic Records); Chris Parr (VP Music Programming & Talent Relations, CMT); Barbara Sedun (VP Creative, EMI Music Publishing Canada); Tara Griggs-Magee (Executive VP of Gospel/Urban Music, Sony Records); Leib Ostrow (CEO, Music For Little People), Thomas Brooman (Co-Founder/Artistic Director, WOMAD); Cory Robbins (Founder/President, Robbins Entertainment); Emily Wittmann (Vice-President, Nick Records); Patrick Moxey (President, Ultra Records/You Records/Sequence Records/Escondida Music/Empire Mgmt.) and Danny Epstein (Music Supervisor, Sesame Street/Sesame Workshop).
