Andover High Vocal Group Wins $25K in 'Glee' Contest

students in the Show Choir at the school put together a video a few months ago about why they need funding for their music program. Thanks to folks at home that voted for the video, they were one of just a handful of schools to win $25,000 for their school music program.

Check out the video that won it on the "Glee" Give a Note campaign website.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) announced last week the winners for the “GLEE Give a Note” campaign – that started over 3 months ago – whereby 73 schools nationwide will receive grants ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 to help save struggling music programs. 

As the economy continues to stumble, school music and fine arts classes are the first to feel the impact with drastic budget cuts and elimination of departments.  The “GLEE Give a Note” campaign aims to soften the blow, and reignite public passion for supporting student arts programs and the teachings they provide to students. 

A school in New York, Ohio and Alabama was each awarded a $50,000 grand prize for their music and arts program. Andover was one of the 10 first place prize grants of $25,000. Additional, 60 second place prize grants of $10,000 will also be awarded.

Students across the country harmonized, boogied and conducted their submissions in video form during an open call for entries in September.  In October, the eligible entries were posted on www.GleeGiveANote.com and put up for public vote for one month.  During this time, students conducted massive grass roots efforts to win votes for their schools, reaching out to their families, friends and communities to get the vote out.  Word quickly spread through Facebook, Twitter and local newsletters and over one million votes were cast to help choose the finalists.  A panel composed of NAfME members conducted a final round of judging and, together with the public vote, determined the winning programs. 

“’Glee’ has always been about the importance of arts education, and Brad, Ian and I have felt strongly from the beginning that the show has a responsibility to give back,” commented co-creator and executive producer of Glee, Ryan Murphy. “We congratulate the winners and want the thousands of students across the country who submitted to know how impressed we were with their passion and talent. Music programs were incredibly important to me growing up, and we hope that our show and initiatives like ‘Give a Note’ continue to demonstrate how much they mean to our kids.”

For more information and to view the submissions, visit www.GleeGiveANote.com.  Glee: The Complete Second Season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 13^th and $1 from every sale goes towards the Glee Give A Note campaign.  Glee: The Concert Movie releases in stores on Blu-ray, DVD and 3D Blu-ray December 20^th.  Two-time winner, Glee has been recently nominated for a third consecutive year for a Golden Globe® Award for Best Television Comedy.