CNW
SOCAN (The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) proudly presented its first-ever ECHO Songwriting Prize, designed to identify emerging songwriters in independent music, and honour some of the most innovative, creative and artistic songs created in the past year by songwriters in Canada. The inaugural winner is Propagandhi - Chris Hannah, Todd Kowalski and Jordan Samolesky - for their song "A Speculative Fiction." The winning song was selected by online public voting, with thousands of people casting their vote for one of the five songs that had been nominated by an independent panel of eight music community taste-makers.
Regarding the $5,000 cash award, SOCAN president Pierre-Daniel Rheault said: "SOCAN is thrilled to support this new prize for our talented songwriters. The ECHO Songwriting Prize is a great opportunity for SOCAN to celebrate the successes of emerging songwriters, like the members of Propagandhi, who might not otherwise receive recognition for their work or exposure to the general public at this point in their careers. This contest provides us with an additional opportunity, via our Website at www.socan.ca, to showcase new songwriters and their songs to visitors worldwide." The other nominated songs for the ECHO Songwriting Prize were:
The jury responsible for nominating the five songs for public voting included the following: Hannah Sung, Toronto-based writer and former host of The New Music; Alex Varty, editor/writer for the Georgia Straight weekly; Dan Seligman, founder of Pop Montreal; Gabino Travassos, editor/publisher of Mote Magazine; Tara Thorne, arts editor for The Coast; Rob Williams, music critic for the Winnipeg Free Press; Carl Wilson, editor and music critic for the Globe and Mail; Denise Benson, host of CKLN radio's Mental Chatter and electronic music columnist for Eye Weekly. The five selected songs were posted on SOCAN's Website from Aug. 31 to Oct. 12, 2006.
The Francophone counterpart of the award, Prix de la chanson ECHO, was presented concurrently in Montreal to Eve Cournoyer for her song "Tout arrive" (Everything Happens). |