Daniel F. Díaz Wins peermusic Latin Scholarship

Ralph N. Jackson, President of the BMI Foundation, Inc., has announced that Daniel F. Díaz is the winner of the 4th Annual peermusic Latin Scholarship, a competition for original Latin songs and instrumental compositions. Díaz, a 23-year-old native of Mexico and a student at Berklee College of Music, received a $5,000 scholarship for his song, “Todo Lo Que Necesito.” The award will be presented onstage during the upcoming BMI Latin Awards ceremony being held in Las Vegas on March 23.

The scholarship competition was established through the generosity of Ralph Peer II and the peermusic companies and is open to students between the ages of 16 and 24 attending colleges and universities in the United States and Puerto Rico. The 2007 jury included Latin Grammy President Gabriel Abaroa, peermusic’s Julio Bague, EMI Music Publishing’s Claribel Caraballo, Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s Rene Hubard and Tu Casa Entertainment’s Maribel Schumacher. Porfirio Piña, Director of the Foundation’s peermusic Latin Scholarhsip and Director of Latin Music at BMI in New York, oversaw the judging process.

The judges also awarded one Honorable Mention to 22-year-old Rebecca Lopez and 24-year-old Agnel David Lindes, both students at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, who co-wrote the winning song, “Y Se Va.”

Founded by Ralph Peer in 1928, peermusic is a global network of music publishing companies operating from 33 offices in 27 countries. With well over a quarter of a million titles in the company’s catalogue, and songs that vary from country, blues, jazz and pop to Latin, concert and rock ‘n’ roll, peermusic is the largest privately owned company of its kind in the world.