The Cover Song Contest Results and the Rules...

A Latin Language Cover of Adele's 'Hello'

First off, I want to again thank all the people who supported my song entry through your views, likes, and shares. We created an unquestionable international phenomenon, bringing my video, as of this writing, to 34,902 views, with 560 likes. I know the video has been shared widely since I have received positive comments from many countries of the world.

I entered the contest because I was hoping it would be an opportunity to make the learning of the Latin language interesting for my students. I have received an outpouring of positive comments from Latin students and Latin teachers for this effort.

But the song broke out past just those interested in Latin to be reported in the Daily Record and Mental_Floss.


The Results

I am disappointed to report that the results have been announced and I did not take 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place.

But I am primarily disappointed that the people sponsoring the contest clearly disregarded their own stated judging criteria, under which nearly 200 people in good faith entered this contest.

They stated that:

"Videos will be judged on quality of the performance, creativity, fan engagement. (Fan engagement will take into consideration things like views, watch time, likes, comments, shares.)" 


I will not judge on the quality of performance or creativity of the winners, but the choice the judges made for 2nd and 3rd places in particular prove that fan engagement was not actually a factor at all in this contest.

As of this moment, the 2nd place winner has:

144 views, 1 like.

The 3rd place winner has:

97 views, 4 likes.

Youtube ranks the videos in the contest's own channel based on "Popularity," a combination of views, likes, and comments.

As of this writing, there are 61 videos that are thus measured as more popular than the 2nd place video. 

There are 106 videos out of the 192 that entered the contest that are listed as more popular than the 3rd place video.

Again, let me be clear that I am not saying anything about the musical merits of any of the winners. I am just saying that, despite the Contest Rules as stated, fan engagement was clearly not a factor. If they run this contest again, they should not claim that it will be.


The Take-Away

My entry into this contest did dramatically better than I ever imagined.  I more than achieved my goal--to make the Latin language come alive for the modern generation. With 30K+ views and growing, that result will only continue. While I, like all the non-winning contestants, are disappointed to not have won, my involvement in this contest, thanks to your support, was well worth it in terms of my overall publicity and exposure. 

I mainly feel in this moment for the dozens of contestants who entered the contest in good faith, worked to promote their video and the contest, believing that it mattered, and today had the rug pulled out from under them.

I close by sharing the video that was most of all robbed. If you have not heard this A Capella version of Adele's 'Hello' sung by a Panamanian group, enjoy.