Winners Announced in Great Lakes Songwriting Contest

Date: Jan 24, 2010

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An inventor from Upstate New York, a tour guide from Wisconsin, and a dentist from Michigan are among the winners of the sixth annual Great Lakes Songwriting Contest.

Johnsmith of Trempealeau, WI, has won the Grand Prize in the sixth annual Great Lakes Songwriting Contest for his song, “From His Window,” a poignant song about a son struggling with his father’s Alzheimer’s Disease.

Contest director Bill Frank called the winning song “incredibly powerful and lovely, striking the perfect emotional tone, never straying into sentimentality or pity. The song acknowledges the tragedy of the disease while honoring the father for who he was and the good things that remain."

Another of Johnsmith’s songs, “Kickin’ This Stone,” was chosen for the top 20 “Director’s Cuts” in the contest.

The Great Lakes Songwriting Contest attracted about 550 songs from around the world. The eleven winners in the sixth annual contest split about $20,000 worth of prizes. Several will perform at the annual Winners’ Concert in a Detroit-area concert venue in April 2010. More information is available at the contest website, www.GreatLakesSongs.com.

The two First Place awards went to Michigan artists this year. The rock group Woodward, based in the northwest Detroit suburb of Northville, won with its high energy “Switch Hit Resistor.” Julianne, a country songwriter and performer from Port Huron, won with “No Place for a Lullabye,” which tells the story of a single mother who has fallen on hard times.

Second-place awards went to Terry Penney of Newfoundland (Canada), for “Benny Brown,” a true story of a World War I veteran; Michael Slack of Palo Alto (CA) for “Bring Down the Rain,” a love song about miscommunication; inventor Roger Kaye of Glens Falls (NY) for the country ballad “Tennessee Winds”; and Ann Arbor (MI) dentist Dennis G. Donoho for “Gifts Are Made For Giving,” which was written for his daughter’s wedding.

Third Place Awards went to Bruce Holmes of Chicago for “Let It Burn”; Martin Gibson of Camden (ME) for “Country Music Spoken Here”; Karl Williams of Tunkhannock (PA) for “If This Ain’t Love (It’s Sure Got Lonely Beat)”; and Ralston of Grand Rapids (MI) for “Utah.”

Honorable mentions were given to songwriters from across the USA and Canada, with a few from as far away as England, Switzerland, and Australia.

This year's judges were hit songwriter Craig Bickhardt, Detroit radio host Pam Rossi, and blues performer and promoter Steve Allen.

The Great Lakes Songwriting Contest is not limited to a single style of music, and is open to amateur and professional songwriters. Formerly limited to residents of the Great Lakes region, the contest dropped its geographical restrictions this year. Past winners have ranged in age from teenagers to the elderly, and in past years have included college students, a former Marine captain, a child actor, a book author, and a veterinarian. The contest started in 2003 as the Metro Detroit Songwriting Contest, which was organized by a group of southeastern Michigan songwriters based in Ann Arbor.