BMI Foundation Announces 2004 Lennon Scholarships
BMI Foundation President Ralph N. Jackson has announced the winners of the 7th Annual John Lennon Scholarships, a program that recognizes the best and brightest young songwriters between the ages of 15 and 24. This year’s winners include 20-year-old University of Michigan student Andrew Horowitz, who received 1st Place honors and a $10,000 scholarship for his song “Goodday.” Andrew was awarded the top prize at a special presentation during the recent BMI Pop Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on May 11.
Winning songs:
1st place: “Goodday” by Andrew Horowitz
2nd place: “Abandoned Angel” by Joel P.W. Dean and Megan Kirschbaum
3rd place: “Food-Mud” by Mikhail Tarasov
Honorable Mentions:
“Waiting After You” by Robert DuBois
“That’s When I Miss You” by Michael Mahler
“Where You Always Will Be” by Adam Wright
Berklee College of Music students Joel P.W. Dean and Megan Kirschbaum shared the 2nd Place award and a $5,000 scholarship for their song “Abandoned Angel.” Mikhail Tarasov, also a student at Berklee College of Music, was the 3rd Place winner and received a $5,000 scholarship for his song “Food-Mud.”
Honorable Mentions and $1,000 scholarships went to University of Northern Colorado student Robert DuBois for “Waiting After You,” Northwestern University student Michael Mahler for “That’s When I Miss You,” and University of Montevallo student Adam Wright for “Where You Always Will Be.”
The 2004 judges included esteemed jazz specialist Suzan Jenkins, legendary record producer Russ Titelman, and record producer and hit Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn. The preliminary judges were Beka Callaway, Samantha Cox, Charles Feldman, J.W. Johnson, Wardell Malloy and Erica Tompkins, all from BMI’s New York based Writer/Publisher Relations team. Thousands of students representing schools from every state participated in the competition this year.
Established by Yoko Ono in 1997 in conjunction with the BMI Foundation, the John Lennon Scholarships have been made possible through generous donations from Ono with matching funds from Gibson Musical Instruments. Over $125,000 has been awarded over the last seven years to students from select colleges, universities and music schools, and from national submissions from Music Educators National Conference (MENC) chapters.