January 12, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Schlagle Choir Wins 'First Sunday Gospel Challenge;' Donates $10,000 Prize to Foundation for Excellence

They showed stage presence and originality, and now they have the grand prize. The F.L. Schlagle High School Chamber Choir, in Kansas City, Kansas, has been named the winner of the First Sunday Gospel Challenge contest sponsored by Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc.

The competition attracted choirs from throughout the country to perform and compete against each other, vying for a $10,000 cash prize. The competition was a marketing component created for Sony Pictures' new movie, FIRST SUNDAY.

Darryl Ammons, director of choral activities at Schlagle, said he received news of the choir's grand prize win on Friday, Jan. 11. The phone call that brought the news came while he was teaching the Chamber Choir class. He said the students were elated.

"My heart couldn't have been more full just seeing them celebrate," he said.

The First Sunday national competition consisted of two phases. Phase I, which took place in mid December, drew participants to a local competition within their city, where they performed a three-minute version of either "O Holy Night," "Joy to the World," or "O Come All Ye Faithful." The performances were videotaped and the choirs were scored based on their singing ability, stage presence and originality. Top scorers in each city went on to the second phase of the competition which consisted of posting their performance online where people nationwide could listen in and vote for their favorite.

Ammons said he was confident that his choir could ace the first phase of the competition; and they did. They performed "Joy to the World" and their stage presence is what set them apart from the other choirs. They performed the piece flawlessly – both in English and Japanese. The judges gave them perfect scores.

"It's not unusual for us to perform songs in different languages; we've been doing it for years," Ammons said. "But I thought it would give us the originality we needed to stand out."

Phase II of the competition was more of a challenge, Ammons said. The group competed online against 12 choirs based in major cities across the U.S., including Dallas, Chicago, Miami and Philadelphia. Voting took place Jan. 4-10, and students, staff and their families worked to spread the word to community members, encouraging them to go online to vote. And it worked; they received the top number of votes.

"It is so gratifying to know that the community was so supportive of our efforts," Ammons said. "We truly couldn't have done this without them."

Ammons said he feels fortunate to work in a district and live in a community that supports the arts and education. And that's why he and the choir want to give back. They are donating their $10,000 grand prize to the KCK School Foundation for Excellence. The Foundation's mission is to further the educational experiences of staff and students in the KCK Public Schools by providing grants, scholarships and enrichment activities.

"I am blessed to be part of a district that is so supportive of the arts. Students learn so many valuable life skills through music and the arts, like time management, performing, interpersonal communications skills and the tenacity to weather any situation," Ammons said. "When students in KCK are given the chance, they come through and they certainly showed that through this competition."