ASA Adventist Society for the Arts
Congratulations to our contest winners for 2020. It’s always a difficult thing to select the winning songs; there are so many good ones. Keep in mind that this contest puts the focus on lyric writing and song construction. We are not evaluating the quality of the production, which is why we have people submit their songs via their smartphones. We don’t want people going to a professional studio and creating polished versions of their songs. In our view, that just gets in the way. It’s like we’re in the construction phase of a “house,” and don’t really want to see the finished house. We want to strip away the fluff and see the bare song.
The other problem with polished studio recordings is that some people can pay to have their songs professionally recorded, but others cannot. So we leveled the playing field by asking each songwriter to submit their songs via their smart phones—as a video of them singing it.
This Year’s Judges – A big thank you to our judges: Ed Anderson, from Buckeye, AZ; Greg Evans, from Palmdale, CA; Larry Karpenko, from Loma Linda, CA; Josie Minikus, from Jasper, OR; and John Schachinger, from Phoenix, AZ.
Winners Circle:
First Place – Carmen Cruz – So Amazing
Second Place – Jennifer Sanabria Mercado – Deliver Us
Third Place – Rebecca Messer – Safely Home
Song Submissions – Check out the submissions and winners here: inSpire 2020 Songwriting Showcase
