Maddy Rodriguez, an 18-year-old Canadian country-pop singer-songwriter, is the overall grand prize winner in the 8th Annual International Acoustic Music Awards competition. The young Toronto-based artist, whose debut album Don’t Be a Stranger is slated for release next month, also captured first prize in the Country/Bluegrass category.

The International Acoustic Music Awards competition promotes excellence in acoustic music performance and artistry. Awards were announced in eight categories. First-place winners and runners-up include:

Best Group/Duo
First Prize: “Bird Song” – The Wailin Jennys
Runner-up: “All This Time” – The Village Musicians, AKA: Village

Best Male Artist
First Prize: “What Am I Doing Here” – Ian Sherwood
Runner-up: “Escape Artist” – Patrick Joseph

Best Female Artist
First Prize: “Vimy Ridge” – Lizzy Hoyt
Runner-up: “Angel” – Imaaji Phenoon

AAA/Alternative
First Prize: “You Let Me Be – Melissa Ferrick
Runner-up: “Joe Barry” – Jayme Dawicki

Country/Bluegrass
First Prize: All The Wasted Time” – Maddy Rodriguez
Runner-up: Rambler’s Song – Monroeville

Folk
First Prize: “Chasing A Dream” – William Michael Dillon
Runner-up: “The Garden” – Ruth Moody

Instrumental
First Prize: “Autumn Roads” – Doug Young
Runner-up: “Portlandia” – Tony Furtado

Acoustic Open Genre
First Prize: “Spring” – Caleb McGinn
Runner-up: “Save Me” – Arlene Bishop

Nearly 12,000 entries were evaluated by a panel of music industry judges based on music performance, production, originality, lyrics, melody and composition. In addition to valuable products and services, the winners and top runners-up in each category will be featured on a compilation CD that is distributed to radio stations. Visit http://www.inacoustic.com for more information.