So for those of you readers who like a good marathon and actually get through my sizeable posts, well you may have had a hint this was coming...
The Songwriters Challenge crew knew we wanted to spoil our super talented entrants, we had been speaking about it for weeks before we launched the Challenge - I even reached out to several whales and dominate figures to see if we could find some extra support.
But it was to no avail, I either got no's (sometimes for odd reasons) or just no reply at all - well I wasn't too happy bout that, so I figured I would step in and try and offer something myself.
Well at first the plan I had was to launch another radio show, like the one I already host with @isaria and @swelker101 - we feature the Open Mic judges top five selections each week and we give out 30 SBD to 3 entries chosen by the live audience.
My thoughts were we replicate this show, but instead of Open Mic it's the Songwriters Challenge - well as I'm sure many of the entrants can attest, this Challenge was a whirlwind event.
As it really gained it's stride we reached an end, in spite of our hopes and plans we never managed to arrange the show in time - so the place I had intended to give some rewards away on never came, so I never donated anything.
I believe early on in the Challenge I may have mentioned, that I would be donating the liquid funds from my Songwriters Challenge Judge posts to something - but I never ended up clarifying and for those not in the judges private chat they never heard about it again.
But in the judges room we were conspiring together, hatching a plan to hopefully make some of the lives of our entrants better - and most importantly know how much we appreciate, all the effort that went into their contributions.
@meno, @passion-ground and @luzcypher all loved the idea, so we decided then I'd save my SBD and give it out after the Challenge was complete - my posts weren't the biggest on steemit, but liquid rewards are liquid rewards.
Well I think it was literally week one we were all in a little bit of shock, the quality of the music we were hearing was next level - like ready to go in a studio and my mere pittance of a payout seemed insufficient once more.
Little did we know over the coming weeks that the price would climb so dramatically, it's almost as though a higher power was controlling the payouts I was receiving - I had SBD rewards from my posts that ranged from 16 SBD to a whopping 70 + SBD on the week 8 post!
Over 8 weeks that adds up and the total came in at around the 304 SBD range, we only had the full figures after my final post paid out hence the delay - but then we had to figure out how to share it amongst our super talented artists.
Well @passion-ground, @meno spent a lot of time trying to help me math (thanks again guys), but it's hard to figure out how to split up the funds fairly - I mean the whole way we structured this Challenge, was to encourage the love of music and the support of fellow musicians.
You guys took to this goal with gusto and I am still a little amazed at how supportive, this little community has been of one another - the more I looked at our leaders board, the more I struggled to divide the funds fairly and continue to make this community know we too feel that it was all for the music and creativity.
So rather than trying to come up with a division of funds, I thought what would be a good amount of funds to receive - too little and transfer fees could suck it all up, too much and too many of you miss out altogether.
I was stuck in a no win situation if I followed that logic path to come to the conclusion, people would be happy with $100 USD - but to ensure they actually get that in funds round it up and add some gravy, make it an even $140 that should more than cover any BTC fees.
Then I was trying to figure out how many people I could award with that, let's just say it still didn't feel like enough of you were being shown the true level of appreciation - I know the judges all felt towards you.
Try as I might I couldn't afford to give everyone that entered a big chunk of thank you, so I did what I could and I added some extra funds to the pool - I took the new total up to 484 SBD or in USD $3092!
Now that will go a bit further, how much you may ask -well enough to take the total amount of entrants that we could give a reward up to 22!
I had to dip into my other post earnings to cover the costs, but you guys just entertained me for 8 weeks straight - so it only seemed fair to return the love and some much deserved adoration in your direction.
So here it is the top 22 entrants from the Open Mic Songwriters Challenge Volume 1, receiving their much deserved rewards - thank you so very much from all of the judges, we love you guys!
"The true beauty of music is that it connects people. It carries a message, and we, the musicians, are the messengers." - Roy Ayers
A massive thanks to our top 22 entries! (in no particular order)
Congratulations again to our first place winner @onetrubrother!
@onetruebrother - Broken Mirror
@pechichemena - Navegante
@lk666 - Stolen Soul
@fitzgibbon - Lost and Found
@g10a - Scars
@elisonr13 - Until You Arrived
@senzenfrenz -Lost And Found
@cabelindsay - The pearl
@lucybanks - Broken Mirror
@vera.carla - Till we meet again
@anniemacleod - Just Because We Can
@jaybird - Meet Me On The Shore
@chrisroberts - Stolen Soul
@afrao0 - Oneness
@chaifm -Walk in beauty
@melavie - Because We Can
@kayclarity - January
@ausxen - Right Place/Right Time
@luisferchav - Make believe
@wilins - Porque podemos
@tarotbyfergus - When Animals Attack
@basilmarples - You Dirty Soul Sucking Theives
I so wish I could have paid everyone who entered in the end, but hey there is always the next round!
It really has been such an immense privilege to join you all on this wonderful adventure, the range of emotions is hard to narrow down - but it's safe to say you made all the judges laugh, cry, love and feel pain and emotions through your music.
It was an honour to have all of you with us and I hope this begins to show the level of gratitude all the judges have for our entrants, you guys rock our world week in and out - you have shared parts of yourselves with us so willingly and openly it truly is breathtaking to behold at times.
I love you all and cannot thank you enough for the amazing contributions you have given us, it has been a once in a lifetime experience we hope to repeat in the near future - but it really was just an unbelievable thing to be a part of.
It's not just the Songwriters Challenge judges you have impressed, I was talking with @soundlegion the other day and she was saying how much she had been loving the entries - you guys are just making big waves everywhere.
You are all so valued and appreciated for all the hard work and dedication you put into each and every song each and every week, you deserve all this and much more.....
Which is why I am honoured to say this isn't the last surprise we have in store for the first Songwriters Challenge, the best in my opinion is yet to come!
What was your favourite entry from the first Challenge?
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