Back again after several years, Rachel Grubb came from Lake City, Florida, with her song,
Cruising Down the Suwannee,
and won not only
Best Americana Indie-Folk Song,
but also
First Prize,
in the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2024.
She got plaques for both, and a $300 check for First Prize.
Hahira, Georgia, September 9, 2024— the First Prize winner in the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest is from Lake City, Florida, with Best from Inside the Suwannee River Basin from Adel, Georgia, and Best from Outside the Suwannee River Basin from Palatka, Florida.
Everyone listened to the two main speakers, the talks about WWALS,
and the headliner at the
WWALS River Revue.
More about all that later.
Then the three judges listened to the
five finalists
of the Seventh Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest,
and picked these winners.
The Winners, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, WWALS River Revue 2024-09-07
Center top: Rachel Grubb of Lake City, Florida, won
Best Americana Indie-Folk Song for “Cruising Down the Suwannee”
and First Prize, with $300.
Top left:
Sweet William Ennis from Palatka, Florida, won Best Blues Song for “Catfish Stew (Suwannee River Blues),” and Best Song from Outside the Suwannee River Basin, with $50.
Top right:
David Rodock from Adel, Georgia, won
Best Pop Country Folk Song for “Moonlight Echoes,” and Best Song from Inside the Suwannee River Basin, with $50.
Bottom left:
Robert Thatcher from Signal Mountain, Tennessee and Tom Brown from Dalton, Georgia, won
Best Folk / Americana / Bluegrass Song for “Roll On, Echo River.”
Bottom right:
Bill Berry from Valdosta, Georgia, won
Best Americana Song for “The River.”
Hahira, GA, August 21, 2024 —
The five finalists will play at the Finals of the Suwannee
Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, at the WWALS River Revue, Saturday,
September 7, 2024, at the Turner Center for the Arts, in Valdosta,
Georgia. The audience and the three judges will watch and listen.
The judges will award prizes, and the winner will sing again.
This is all after dinner and after Dr. Jason Evans of Stetson
University in Florida talks about his long detective work to
determine water lettuce is indeed native, and Heather Brasell of the
Gaskins Forest Education Center in Georgia talks about the effects
of forest management on water. There will also be a silent auction
in this fundraiser to benefit WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.
One entry, a duo, is from Tennessee and Georgia: Robert Thatcher of
Signal Mountain, TN, and Tom Brown of Dalton, GA.
Two are from Georgia: David Rodock of Adel, and Bill Berry of
Valdosta.
Two are from Florida: Sweet William Ennis of Palatka, and Rachel
Grubb of Lake City.
VALDOSTA — Chosen from a record number of finalists, an O’Brien man
was one of three winners named Saturday
night at the fourth annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.
Out of the nine finalists that competed at the Annette Howell Turner
Center for the Arts’ Art Park, O’Brien’s KJ Wingate
won for the best song from inside the Suwannee River
basin. Wingate won a $50 prize from the WWALS
Watershed Coalition for his folk/country song,
“The Hymn of Convict Spring.”