After an interesting learning process we went through from the first song of the year contest the year before last, we have engineered a new and better contest to try and focus on the great works of some new and original artists. Votes will be accepted by a special news item very soon. GET READY!!!! We are updating our database engine for the contest now!

As some background, the very first contest, which was very successful, had some dynamite songs by some very great artists. Mike Broward and STARS ON THE WATER won first place with "WHATEVER HAPPENED IN KEY WEST" .What a great song that was.

We did have some issues with songs being nominated that were not 100% owned by the artists who performed the songs. This is a tricky area, and we want to refine the rules this year so there is no contention or misunderstandings.

HERE ARE THE NEW 2008 RULES:

All songs must have been released for publication for the very first time from 1-1-2007 to 12-31-2008. It does not matter when the song was actually written, because sometimes songs take years to write. The release or public performance date is all we care about in the contest. All songs must be written and owned 100% by the individual(s) performing the song. A band may perform a song as long as the writer(s) are 100% performing members of the band. This means covers or even partial covers are not allowed. This also means you can not buy an original song from the original writer and claim it was your song, even though you legally own it now. Only one vote per person will be allowed! Using different email addresses will also not be allowed. THIS IS NOT AMERICAN IDOL WHERE YOU CAN STUFF THE BALLOT BOX WITH MULTIPLE CALLS AND VOTES!!!!!! Any song nominated in the previous song of the year contest is not eligible in the new contest.