Buffalo Music Hall of Fame announces songwriter contest open for Western New York high school and college students

The Buffalo Music Hall of Fame, in collaboration with the The Lucille and Jack Yellen Foundation, announced today it is holding a songwriter contest open to local high school and college students. One winner will receive a full day of recording at Goo Goo Doll member Robby Takac's GCR Recording Studio. Ina addition to the full day of recording, Hall of Fame inductees will be on hand as session musicians to play on the recording.

The winner will have the very unique opportunity to work with world-class musicians to help along the way with songwriting insight as well as the recording process. In addition, the winning song will be mastered by Hall of Fame board member and Grammy nominee Anthony Casuccio and engineered by Justin Rose of GCR Studios.

"This is something that we are very proud to offer. We have never done this before and one very lucky aspiring musician will walk away with a finished, professional master of their song," said Casuccio, Buffalo Music Hall of Fame vice president.

A Buffalo Music Hall of Fame panel will choose the winner. Age is limited to high school and college students up to 21 years of age. The contest is open to songwriters, not full bands.

This is not a call for full band demos. The submission could be a simple recording of a person playing a guitar and singing. Organizers are looking for the originality of the song and not the performance or recording quality.

Submissions should be MP3 or a link to the song or video. Visit www.buffalomusic.org/contest.html for complete rules and entry information.

The contest runs from now until Dec. 16. The winner will be announced before Dec. 31, with the recording session to take place in the new year.