(Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA) January 29, 2010 – Teen phenom Sarah Lonsert won the Overall Grand Prize of the 14th Annual USA Songwriting Competition along with co-writers Jonathan George and Jami Templeton. Her winning song “Dancing Through Life” will be on the USA Songwriting Competition's compilation CD this year. Sarah is only 17 years old and she not only broke the first prize record of being the youngest winner but also the overall grand prize winner of being the youngest winner ever. The previous youngest first prize winner was Kate Voegele, who won in 2005 at 18 years old. Adrianne Gonzalez was the youngest overall grand prize winner at 22 years old when she won in 1999. Sarah also won first prize in the Dance/Electronica category, making her the first from that category to ever win the overall grand prize. Sarah Lonsert will be releasing a full length CD this year. Although Sarah suffers from autism, she is a budding singer-songwriter and has also won an award at the L.A. Music Awards last year.

Eric Colville (from Ipswich, MA) won the overall second prize and Anne Simoni (from Brazil) won the overall third prize. This year also marks the first time that USA Songwriting Competition had two winners from Spain. Ariel Queupumil from Guadalajara, Spain won the first prize in the Latin Category while Eduardo de la Iglesia Nieto from Madrid, Spain won the First Prize in the instrumental category. Nicole Morier and Fabien Waltman from Los Angeles won the first prize in the Pop category. Nicole is has written songs for Britney Spears and is also an artist. Other winners came from Indonesia, Canada, Australia, Norway and Denmark.

Entries are currently being accepted for the 2010 15th Annual USA Songwriting Competition. Winning songs of the 15th Annual USA Songwriting Competition will receive airplay on a nationally syndicated radio program “Acoustic Café” as well as Sirius XM Satellite Radio. This is the first Songwriting Competition that gives airplay to the winning songs, giving deserving bands, songwriters the recognition and exposure they deserve. Entrants stand to win a grand prize of over US$50,000 in cash and music gear from sponsors such as Sony, D’Addario Strings, Ibanez Guitars, Audio-Technica, IK Multimedia, and more, making this the largest prize package for any annual songwriting competition.

Many USA Songwriting Competition winners in the past have received recording and publishing contracts, have their songs placed on the charts as well as having their songs placed on film and television. 2005 First Prize winner (Pop) Kate Voegele was signed to Myspace/Interscope Records the year after she won and had her winning song hit top 40 on the Billboard Charts, her latest album hit Top 10 on the Billboard 200 Album charts this summer. 2007 Overall Grand Prize Winner Ari Gold had his winning song “Where The Music Takes You” hit #10 on the Billboard Dance Charts. Darrell Scott, winner of the country category of the 2005 USA Song writing Competition had his winning song "Good Ol USA" cut by award winning country singer Faith Hill and the song was renamed “We've Got Nothing But Love to Prove.” Also, Kyler England, 2009 first prize winner just got signed to Universal Records. Judges include A&R managers from record labels such as Warner, Capitol Records, Universal, BMG/SONY Music. "It seems to be a competition that draws a solid talent base", said Kirk Boyer, A&R director at Lyric Street Records. "A healthy and important competition, good outlet for creative people", said Andy Karp, Executive VP/Head of A&R, Atlantic Records.

Sponsors include Sony, Audio-Technica, Ibanez Guitars, D'Addario Strings, New Music Weekly, and Guitar Player Magazine. Songs may be entered in 15 different categories including Pop, Rock/Alternative, R&B and Country. Entries are accepted from now through May 28, 2010. For more information, visit:

http://www.songwriting.net