International Songwriting Competition

Click here for a list of ISC 2003 finalists.
Winners for ISC 2003 will be announced on January 31, 2004.

The following is the list of ISC 2002 winners.
Please click on the song title to hear the winning song.

2002 GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Skeletons
Andy Schmidt and Kevin Gagnepain
Long Beach, CA, USA

Songwriters Andrew J. Schmidt and Kevin Gagnepain are the founding members of the acclaimed group Stir, formed in 1994.

In the past, songwriting for the group was done primarily by Schmidt, with collaborations on arrangement and bass parts by Gagnepain. "Skeletons" marks a new beginning for the duo, truly representing these two members of the band as writers for the first time. It is artistically appropriate because "Skeletons" is a song about starting over. When asked, Gagnepain replies, "I 'm not sure if it's our age, or the age that we live in, but everyone around my life seems to be starting over. People are changing careers, relocating, getting divorced... life-changing events. And, everyone has some baggage that they carry around. You are who you are, things change and you have to figure out who you are going to be... that is life." Relationships and transitions are inevitable in life: you can't get around them, and that is why they have always been source of inspiration for the band.

Look for Stir's new album, yet untitled, on April 22nd of this year. You can check out the band at www.stirband.com and at www.hollywoodandvine.com.

2002 WINNERS
ROCK CATEGORY		POP/TOP 40 CATEGORY
FIRST PLACE	SECOND PLACE	FIRST PLACE	SECOND PLACE
The Boxer Carbon Leaf Richmond, VA, USA	Mother Bryan Cote/Ryan Leclair Bolton, ONT, Canada	Sweet Kathy Ziegler New York, NY USA	Tonight Elcodrive Boston, MA, USA

COUNTRY CATEGORY		RAP/HIP-HOP CATEGORY
FIRST PLACE	SECOND PLACE	FIRST PLACE	SECOND PLACE
No Boys Allowed Laurie Webb/Peebe Siebert Nashville, TN, USA	Lipstick In Las Vegas Sam Gay/Scott Parker Bon Aqua, TN, USA	Father Forgive Me Alroy Dias "Charisma" Scarborough, ONT, Canada	Closest Thing Patricio Russell "Illin P" Boston, MA, USA

FOLK/SINGER-SONGWRITER CATEGORY		WORLD MUSIC CATEGORY
FIRST PLACE	SECOND PLACE	FIRST PLACE	SECOND PLACE
Goodbye Rollercoaster David Lane Surry Hills, NSW, Australia	Star Karen Ires New York, NY, USA	The Rhythm In Me Danny Davies London, England, UK	Illegally Javier Vargas/Jeff Espinoza Salamanca, Spain

R&B/BLUES CATEGORY		LYRICS ONLY CATEGORY
FIRST PLACE	SECOND PLACE	FIRST PLACE	SECOND PLACE
Somethin' Strange Ty Stephens Montclair, NJ, USA	555-EXTC Andrew Yankiwski, Neal Cornish, and Chris Wiebe Winnipeg, MB, Canada	Somebody Loved Deb Talan and Steve Tannen Northampton, MA, USA	Sing Me To Sleep Steve Tannen Northampton, MA, USA

HONORABLE MENTIONS
1000 Mile Stare Gary Pearson (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)	Pop/Top 40
Awkward Brice Woodall (Arlington, VA, USA)	Folk/Singer-Songwriter
Bananas Ryan Conway, Elan Cohen, Brian Forbes, Kevin Saunders (Norwalk, CT, USA)	Rap/Hip-Hop
Black Flowers Elcodrive (Boston, MA, USA)	Rock/Alternative
Boxing Day Darin Murphy (Austin, TX, USA)	Pop/Top 40
Don't Shoot The Messenger Gordie Sampson (Cape Breton, NS, Canada)	Folk/Singer-Songwriter
The Great Disappearing Act Kat Goldman (Toronto, ONT, Canada)	Pop/Top 40
Half A Heart Gail Swanson (Kihei, HI, USA)	Country
I Wanna Be Held Mark Lightcap (Chico, CA, USA)	Country
I'll Get By Larry Elyea, Ako Mack, Emerg Mcvay, Richard Gartner, Chris Elsner (Mesa, AZ, USA)	Rock/Alternative
It's A Great Place To Be (If You're Lonesome) Steve Spurgin, D. Caplinger (Carson City, NV, USA)	Country
It's Too Bad (Pop/Top 40) Francesca Cezan, John DeGrazio (New York, NY, USA)	Pop/Top 40
Michelle's Song Amber Wallace, Ric Wallace (Suwanee, GA, USA)	Pop/Top 40
Need To Make A Dollar Keith Dunn (Rotterdam, Holland)	R&B/Blues
Never Been To Memphis Chris Fitz (West Roxbury, MA, USA)	R&B/Blues
Rain Jayne Sachs (Englewood, OH, USA)	Rock/Alternative
Santos Football Club (Me And Mr. Pele) Inacio Zatz (Sao Paulo, Brazil)	World Music
She's Pretty Frank Swart, Billy Beard (Corte Madera, CA, USA)	Folk/Singer-Songwriter
Valentine's Day Bob Hillman (Iowa City, IA, USA)	Folk/Singer-Songwriter
Wish Me Luck Wons Phreely (Sydney, NSW, Australia)	Pop/Top 40

PEOPLES' VOICE ONLINE VOTING
Whatever It Takes Stephen Stohn, Jody Colero, Evren Ozdemir, Jim McGrath (Toronto, ONT, Canada)	Pop/Top 40
Click HERE for Peoples' Voice Online Voting results.

Click here for a list of ISC 2003 finalists. Winners for ISC 2003 will be announced on January 31, 2004.

Click here for a list of ISC 2003 finalists.
Winners for ISC 2003 will be announced on January 31, 2004.