April 2005

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.