The MSA Songwriting Contest finals will be held on Saturday, December 1st at Frontier in Brunswick (www.explorefrontier.com). The program will take place in the theater and will begin at 7:30. Our finalists will take the stage to perform their original songs chosen from 45 excellent entries from MSA songwriters. They are: Caroline Cotter, Ed Desjardins, John Schindler, Shanna Underwood, Heather Pierson, Earl Bigelow, Thom Perkins and Kathy Bennett, and Jed Curtis. The initial round was judged by Giff Jamison, Nancy Sferra, and Deann Marsh. Songs were ranked on lyrics, melody, song structure, creativity, and overall impact. Congratulations finalists! (Three other great songwriters were also chosen, but they have had to withdraw because they are unable to participate on December 1: Connor Garvey, Katherine Rhoda, and Eric Bettencourt.)

In our final round, each contestant will perform 2 songs, a warm-up song and their contest entry. Three judges will evaluate each song for melody, lyrics, song structure, creativity and overall impact and choose an overall winner and runner up.  Our final round judges are Gary Lawless of Gulf of Maine Books, Jerry Perron of the Music Center, and singer-songwriter Robby Simpson.  The winner will receive 3 hours of recording studio time at Jud Caswell’s Frog Hollow Studio in Brunswick, a hand crafted leather guitar strap, and a $50 gift certificate from the Music Center, Brunswick. The runner up will receive a $50 gift certificate from Buckdancer’s Choice, Portland and a Gretsch T-shirt.

Come out and support your fellow songwriters at the Frontier! Admission is $10 at the door.