CHILDREN’S SONGWRITER WINS ANNUAL DALLAS SONG CONTEST TOP PRIZE

Lanny Sherwin’s songs take grand prize, sweep Novelty/Children’s category

Dallas Songwriters Assoc. Announces Winners at Dallas International Guitar Festival

DALLAS (April 17)—The Novelty/Children’s category delivered the grand prize winner for the first time in the 20-year history of the Annual Dallas Song Contest, the Dallas Songwriter’s Assoc. (DSA) announced today.

Lanny Sherwin, president of Sandman Records, swept the Novelty/Children’s category with first, second and third place wins. His top winner was “I Can’t Rhyme,” taking first place in the category as well as grand prize for the overall contest. In the song Sherwin cleverly doesn’t rhyme disease/wasps, any more/window, mad/upset, time/sound the same. You expect to hear bees, door, glad and rhyme, but he fools and delights you every time.

Sherwin, who lives in Santa Barbara, Calif., won a Tradition S200 Gold Top electric guitar featuring a pair of PAF humbucker pickups, a “killer guitar” according to Tradition President Rusty Bickford. He presented the S200 Gold Top today to the DSA’s Steve Sullivan and Buck Morgan during the 33^rd annual Dallas International Guitar Festival.

“If you visit us in Fort Worth, you’ll see that our company is made up of guitar and bass players, so we like to stay close to the musician,” said Bickford. “We have a lot of love and admiration for good songwriting and love the thought of someone writing a great song with one of our guitars.”

Other grand prizes included a Premier Demo by Beaird Music Group, one of Nashville’s top recording facilities, and a one-year Primo MoB membership with Broadjam, the on-line resource company and web community for musicians.

Noel Cohen of New York took first runner up with “Delete,” which also won the Pop/Rock/Alt/R&B category. Country winner “Some Things You Don’t Throw Away” by Claire Ulanoff and Will Hopkins of Nashville took second runner up.

Cohen won a day of free recording at River Sound Recording Studio and a night in Merlin’s Cabin, both nestled along the Llano River on the back of a 300 acre ranch in the Texas Hill Country. He also won a one-year Broadjam Primo MoB membership.

The team of Ulanoff and Hopkins won a song demo/consultation by Kim Copeland of Kim Copeland Productions. Kim’s work as a Nashville producer consistently receives rave reviews. They also won a one-year Broadjam Primo MoB membership.

All first place category winners won $100, a one-year Broadjam MoB membership and a year’s membership in the DSA. Second place winners won $50 and a year’s DSA membership, and third place finishers won a DSA membership.

Other categories and their winners were:

Americana, “Stonewall” by Ward Parker, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Christian/Inspirational, “Hard and Unforgiving” by Scott Tonkinson, Chandler, Ariz.

Instrumental, “Wanderings” by John Visconti, Merrick, N.Y.

Love Songs/Easy Listening, “That Ain’t Me” by Claire Ulanoff and Will Hopkins

Singer/Songwriter, “Photographs” by Noel Cohen

Music Video, “Get Your Clothes On” by Peter Bacsalmasi, Calgary, Alberta.

Find out more about category winners here: http://dsasongcontest.blogspot.com/2010/04/2009-song-contest-winners.html

“It’s always rewarding work to be involved in the Dallas Song Contest,” said the DSA’s Morgan. “Without the generosity of our sponsors and judges, none of it would be possible.”

Contest judges this year were David Card of Poor David’s Pub, Dallas, Christian producer Randy Adams, children’s performer Deborah Poppink, artist manager Marty Rendelman, Mike Hall of Uncle Calvin’s, Dallas, Bart Weiss of Dallas Video Festival, film and advertising composer John Bryant, and hit songwriter Allan Rhody. Roy Elkins, CEO of Broadjam.com, was grand prize judge.

Additional sponsors included Crystal Clear Sound, Patrick McGuire Recording and WM Sales/Cam Audio. Submission partners were Broadjam.com and Sonicbids. Music industry partners were Dallas International Guitar Festival, Arlington Guitar Show, Texas Music Group, Bar-b Music Marketing Consultants, Musemuse.com, Sante Fe Design, Austin Songwriters Group and DIFS.

Dallas Songwriters Assoc. is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to providing information about the craft and business of songwriting. All styles of music are welcome in the DSA, and membership includes writers of all ages. DSA monthly activities include meetings with guest speakers, song critiques and performance showcases that are open to the public. In addition, the DSA supports and promotes workshops and contests and publishes a monthly newsletter. For more information, visit www.dallassongwriters.org.