Congratulations to Jonas Friddle and The Majority, winners of the $20K Song of the Year Prize!

We'd like to offer a HUGE congratulations to our 2012 Song of the Year recipients Jonas Friddle and the Majority for their song "Belle de Louisville"! You can check out the song here. They took home the Grand Prize in the Folk category and edged out all of our other great Grand Prize Winners to claim $20,000 in cash, an Avid prize package, a $1,000 Mackie prize package, and a $1,000 gift certificate to Digital Media Academy.

Jonas Friddle and The Majority make music that is both timeless and immediate. They met at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music and make orchestral folk music that pairs traditional American instrumentation with intricate rythmes and harmonies. Bandleader Jonas Friddle, a North Carolina native, is a banjo virtuoso with a voice to match and his top-notch songwriting is reminiscent of American legends like Buddy Holly. You can watch Jonas Friddle and The Majority perform their award-winning "Belle De Louisville" here and watch and an interview with the band here.

It's always hard to pick just one song but Jonas Friddle and The Majority and "Belle de Louisville" represent songwriting at its finest and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to share his music with the world. The next session of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest has already begun so if you think you have what it takes to win Song of the Year like Jonas Fiddle, then head to the JLSC website to learn about the contest, judges, prizes, past winners and more.

Lennon Award Winners

Hey folks,

The Song of the Year Winner is going to be announced this month! Which Lennon Award Winner has what it takes to go all the way? Let's check out a few of them:

Eastern Sunz took the hip-hop prize with their smooth rhymes, clever wordplay and genuine walrus sounds. Check out their winning song "I Am The Walrus" and try to catch all the Beatles references.

We got so many great jazz songs this year but Rick Webster took home the prize for his very classy  song "Fade Away" with vocalist Allira Wilson. Give it a listen and enjoy Webster's guitar chops.

Finally, banjo-master Jonas Fiddle swept the folk category with his beautiful composition "Belle de Louisville". Watch him perform it live here at the Square Roots Festival in Chicago.

With so many great choices, it's going to be hard to pick just one. Head over to our website to check out the rest of the Lennon Award Winners and send us a message on Twitter or Facebook to tell us who you think deserves win. And remember that Session II of the JLSC is open now! Enter your songs here for a chance to win $20,000, gear from Avid, Mackie, Roland and more!

Song of the Year Winner to Be Announced Soon!

Hey everyone,

The Lennon Award winners for 2012 have already been announced so that means there's only one thing left to decide... The Song of the Year winner! We've had so many great entries and this has been one of the hardest years to decide ever. Sometime this month the winner will be announced but until then, why don't you help us decide! You can check out the Lennon Award winners here and listen to all of their songs for free. Go to our Facebook page or Twitter and tell us who you think deserves to win, and be sure to hashtag it #jlsc!

Think you've got what it takes to be a Song of the Year Winner? Then here over to the John Lennon Songwriting Contest website and enter your song for a chance to win $20,000, a slot on the Vans Warped Tour and much much more! You can also check out this year's judges and past winners, so what are you waiting for?