October Songwriting Contest Results

October's songwriting contest winners and finalists include songwriters from South Africa, Germany, The United Kingdom, Canada, The United States, Australia, Iceland, and Norway. Vocal ability was not taken into consideration. Production/mixing quality was also not taken into consideration. The Pop, Country, and Folk winners all placed with a simple acoustic guitar recording. The winning songs were selected only by the songwriting aspects of the material.  Song of the Year maintains a different set of judges each month to ensure that different opinions are determining the winners throughout the year. 

 

Pop

Winner

M. Chap Edward - My Apologies (Santa Ana, California)

Finalists Hilary Mcrae - Some Things (Boca Raton, Florida) Jamie Lynn Noon - Divided (Danville, California) Muliawan Purnomo - Lost in Love (Covina, California) Sean Croley - Candles on my Cake (Ontario, Canada)

Electronic/Dance

Winner

Joseph Litherland - Effervescence (Norfolk, Virginia)

Finalists Robert Hughes - Trance Dance (Centurion, South Africa)  Ann Marie & Jessica Ann Cornwall - Boo Hoo (Elk River, Minnesota) Coco-Collette George - Crazy Like That (Fountain Valley, California) Jaime Rudolph - Find Me (New York, New York)

Country

Winner

David Smith - Someday (Cookeville, Tennessee)

Finalists Michael Mcgee - Here for the Beer (Lock Haven, Pennsylvania) John Dowman - She's starting to stop loving him again (Essex, United Kingdom) Debra Charles - Without Emily (Shelby, North Carolina) Brenda Heffernan - Crying at Night (Abilene, Texas)

Lyrics Only

Winner

E. Kunert  - This Time (Bremen, Germany)

Finalists Les Hall - Me or my guitar (Bay Minette, Alabama) Missy Arnold - Some other place (Sedalia, Missouri) Robert Thomson - So much more (Sun City, California) Brandon S Raymond - The beast within (Gilbert, Arizona)

Folk

Winner

Gail Swanson - Half a Heart (Puunene, Hawaii)

Finalists Don Martin - Pardon Me (Ontario, Canada) William Shotton - Not for me (Carbondale, Illinois) Jon Troast - Family (Williams Bay, Wisconsin) Jason Campbell-Smith - Busker's Song (Canberra, Australia)

Instrumental/Jazz/World

Winner

Hattie Wilcox - Go it alone (San Diego, California) *Instrumental

Finalists Morri Hartgraves - The heart to keep you warm  (Levelland, Texas) *Jazz Janyse Jaud - Santa is my Ho Ho (British Columbia, Canada) *Jazz Atomik Age - Waiting (Staten Island, New York) *Instrumental Uncle Carl - Have a Hap, Hap, Happy Christmas  (Bayonne, New Jersey) *Jazz

Gospel/Christan

Winner

Marcus Studmire - Outpour (Bedford, Ohio)

Finalists Sarah Geneva Cheek - Jesus (Richmond, Virginia) Susan Funk - That's why we have a Christmas (St. Petersburg, Florida) Amanda Sue Hendrickson - Bring Christmas Back (Fenton, Missouri) John Deaton - Heartlight (Lexington, Alabama)

Rock

Winner

Amber Brooke - Rusty Nail (Suwanee, Georgia)

Finalists Eric Baines - I wanna go home (North Hollywood, California) Matthew Routh - Junior Miss-take (Post Falls, Idaho) Eugene Huang - Hong Kong (Placentia, California) John Moran - If you should fall (Paramus, New Jersey)

Adult Contemporary

Winner

Trausti Bjarnason - Þér við hlið (Reykjavik, Iceland)

Finalists Mark Desiderio - I'll Get By (Buffalo, New York) Randy Hyden - Santa's  Ride (Tulsa, Oklahoma) Ragni Elisabeth Funner - Tomorrow (Vestfold, Norway) Susan Linton - How do we make love last (South Dennis Massachusetts)

Hip-Hop/R&B

Winner

Audra Green - Shawty Girl (Chester, Virginia)

Finalists Mark Floyd - Gangster (Fairmont, North Carolina) Matthew Higgs - Now or Never (Nova Scotia, Canada) Greg Chang - World History 911 (Great Neck, New York) Gary Williams - Flirt (Birmingham, United Kingdom)