Registration for the Madison Area Music Awards 2010 is now open at www.themamas.org. The 7th Annual Madison Area Music Awards will be held May 8th at the Capitol Theater in the Overture Center.

All musicians who make music in the greater Madison area are encouraged to enter. Last year, over 50 awards were given to artists in Album, Song, Live Performance and Instrumentalist categories. This year the MAMAs have added a Hard Rock/Punk genre to the award roll. The finalists and winners are determined by peer and fan voting.

Broadjam.com, an international music website, will sponsor all Album entries submitted to the MAMAs. In addition, Good ‘n Loud Music, a local music instrument retailer, will sponsor all Instrumentalist and Youth award registrations. Eligible artists will receive one free entry in these categories. All other registration fees are $10 per entrant per category. The annual $5 membership in the MAMAs is required to submit and vote. Below are the key dates:

• October 5, 2009 – Open registration
• January 15, 2010 – Registration ends
• February 1, 2010 – First voting round begins
• March 18, 2010 – First voting round ends
• March 28, 2010 – Final round of voting starts
• April 28, 2010 – Final voting ends

May 8, 2010 – 7th Annual Madison Area Music Awards – Overture Center, Capitol Theater
Past winners of MAMAs include a virtual who’s who in the Madison music scene. To qualify artists need to live in or play more than half of their gigs in Dane County.

For more information or for interviews, contact:

Rick Tvedt
rick@themamas.org
608-250-2565

Roy Elkins
roy@broadjam.com
608-271-3633

MAMAs MISSION STATEMENT

MAMAs, Inc. is organized and operates exclusively for charitable or educational purposes, as defined in Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The mission of the MAMAs is to support the preservation and expansion of all forms of music education in the Madison area, and to encourage and promote the artistic advancement of our emerging musical youth.

MAMAs VISION STATEMENT

In furtherance of our charitable purpose, MAMA, Inc. has created and presents the annual Madison Area Music Awards ceremony, with the purpose of (1) raising public awareness of the need to preserve and support the existence of music education in our public schools and other community institutions, (2) encourage and promote the advancement of musicians and others in the Madison area by recognizing their musical achievements as well as the achievements of outstanding music students and music educators, and (3) provide promotional support for the Madison music economy as a whole. MAMA, Inc. seeks to establish three other annual events to further carry out its charitable mission and to keep the awareness of the need for music education in the public eye year-round.

MAMA, Inc. also seeks to carry out the following:

• Provide opportunities for professional, semi-professional and student musicians who are interested in pursuing careers in music to learn about the music industry
• Provide forums for young musicians and others in the Madison area to participate in live performances
• Become advocates for music education by working cooperatively through the Madison School Board and with others
• Establish a school instrument repair program
• Create, support and fund music education events presented in the schools in the form of assemblies
• Create an endowment fund to provide music education scholarships

This post may be a tad late, but just so you guys know, the Madison Area Music Awards registration period deadline was extended from January 10th to January 31st.  Note that this registration period is for the artist registrations (award nominations / registrations) only.  Fan registration is open right to the end of voting on April 28th.

The first round of voting will begin on February 5th.  For all date changes, visit themamas.org and click on Events.