February 2004

www.songoftheyear.com

Winners- The Winners are the songwriters with the #1 rated song in their category in a given month. These songs will compete at the end of the year in their respective category to establish the yearly winner. The yearly winner from each category will then compete for the Grand Prize and status of “song of the year”.

 Finalists- The Finalists are the top four rated songwriters, after the winning song, in their respective category (If the votes are within a minimal range an extra song may be included as a finalist song). These submissions along with the winning submissions are sent out to the Song of the Year resources for further consideration.

Honorable Mentions- Honorable Mention means that the preliminary judges and/or the professionals offering the critiques have found your submissions exceptional for one reason or another. It could be the lyrics, melodies, music, etc...  If Song of the Year receives a lot of positive responses from our judges about a song, you will be place in the Honorable Mention category. This status indicates that a submission was found impressive by a number of the judges.

Suggested Artists- Suggested Artists are musicians or songwriters that the Song of the Year staff found impressive and would suggest for listening. Unlike the Honorable Mention, the Suggested Artist is based on the Song of the Year staff, not the judges. Song of the Year keeps the listings updated on the website so that you can use it as a reference if you need to. Song of the Year wants anyone you refer to this listing to know that the staff thought that your song was found to be quite impressive. 

Runner Ups-  Runner Ups are based on the point system alone. The judges each month are given forms to rank the songs they receive on elements like structure, melodies, music, lyrics, etc... This is what the Winners and Finalists are selected by. The Runner Ups are based on high scores from the judges. The Runner Ups are some of the highest ranked songs that did not make it into the top five picks.

 James Papastamos
Lloyd Miller
Sherry Vines
Barry Terpening
Pamela Russell
Justin Phillips
Jeff Byrd
Christine Lester
Kurt Stecker
Eugen Balinisteanu
Michael Page
Danielle Pascarella
Robin Kennedy
Michele Hall
Robert Ruiz
Jason Button
Catherine Sabala
Steve Allen
Jeff Chapman
Troy Nelson
Randall Jones
Alex Fieiras
Jeffrey Bohannon
Bia Laborte
Melvin Edwards
Vincent Gauthier
Ron Lindsay
Aaron Cole
Kelly Haime
Sean Martyr
David Makowski

 Jason Ostrowsky
Majbritt Petersen
Christopher Murray
Mitchell Jolavatta
Gail Siefring
King Wanetta
Michael Newkirk
Trevor Johnson
Robert Lapierre
Melissa Sturgis
Bardur Haberg
Chris Volkay
Elisa Korenne
Christopher Sernel
Kathie Eidson
Amanda Gwin
England Kyler
Shawn Walbum
Sarah Kosloski
Brax Cutchin
John Nobles
Ernest Beland
Billy David
Will Erickson
Riitta De los Santos
Kathi McGrath
Donald Dickey
Maura Flynn
Andy Hains
Manoah Carrel
David Abbott
Noam Weinstein