A grand prize winner and winners in 21 categories have been selected from among nearly 15,000 entries in the 2009 International Songwriting Competition. [To read the article, click on the headline.]
Fourteen finalists were named this week in the 2010 Philadelphia Songwriters Project Songwriting Contest. The contest, which was open to performing songwriters in all genres and had love songs as its theme this year, drew nearly 600 submissions from 22 states and seven countries. [To read the article, click on the headline.]
Thirty-two songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2010 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. Chosen from among 800 submissions from around the world, the finalists will perform the two songs they submitted during the New Folk Concerts slated for Saturday and Sunday afternoons, May 29 and 30, as part of the Kerrville Folk Festival. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Burning Bridget Cleary, a contemporary Celtic group from southeast Pennsylvania, has won Album of the Year and two other honors in the 2009 Celtic Radio Music Awards. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Finalists have been named in the 18th annual Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, hosted by MerleFest 2010, the popular roots-oriented music festival that takes place April 29-May 2 on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Canadian songwriter Carmel Mikol of Halifax, Nova Scotia captured first place in the contemporary acoustic/folk category of the 11th Annual Great American Song Contest. Winners in nine categories were recently named in the competition that drew more than 1,500 entries. The Cape Breton-born artist was recognized for “In My Bones,” the title track of her new album that is due out next week. [Click the headline to see an article that includes the names of all those honored in the contemporary acoustic/folk category.]
Submissions are now being sought in both the 2010 Indiegrrl and Philadelphia Songwriters Project Songwriting Contests. [To read the full article, click on the headline.]
Liz Longley is the overall grand prize winner in the sixth annual International Acoustic Music Awards competition. The young singer-songwriter from Pennsylvania, who grew up listening to Joni Mitchell and Karla Bonoff, also captured first place in the competition’s Folk category for “When You’ve Got Trouble.” [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Many of the winners in the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy -- including those in the recently renamed and expanded American Roots Music field -- were announced online prior to televised ceremonies on January 31 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. [To view the full article and see the list of winners, click here.]
The second annual Irish Music Awards were presented by the Irish Music Association on January 27 at O’Malley’s Pub in Weston, Missouri. Harpist and singer Orla Fallon, formerly of Celtic Woman and Anuna, won awards in all four categories in which she was nominated. Irish folk musician Donal Lunny -- who has been a part of such groups as Planxty, The Bothy Band, Moving Hearts and Mozaik, played on a number of Christy Moore albums, and has produced albums for other artists -- was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. [To see a complete list of award recipients, click on the headline.]
February 1 is the entry deadline for the annual Music2Life Songwriting Contest. Established in 2000, the songwriting contest is sponsored by the Public Domain Foundation, a nonprofit organization launched by Noel Paul Stookey (Peter, Paul & Mary) more than 30 years ago to encourage the making and use of music for social change. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Online voting continues through January 8 on nominees in 17 categories for the second annual Irish Music Awards presented by the Independence, Missouri-based Irish Music Association. Harpist and singer Orla Fallon is nominated in four categories, while Luka Bloom, Martin Hayes, The High Kings, Van Morrison and The Wolfe Tones each received two nods. [To see the list of nominees, click on the headline.]
