Verizon Wireless’ How Sweet The Sound On Tour To Find The 2009 Best Church Choir In America

Small and large choirs are eligible to enter the competition. The Few Voices category is for choirs consisting of six to 35 participants, while the Many Voices category is for choirs with 36 to 100 participants. Audition videos will be reviewed by professional music producers or Gospel radio personalities from each city. The judges will select up to 16 choirs – eight from each category – from each stop of the tour. The video submissions of the 16 choirs will be posted on www.HowSweetTheSound.com where members of the community can vote for their favorite choirs.

Once the online voting is complete, four choirs from each category will be selected to perform onstage in the regional event where two winners, one from each category, will win $10,000 for their choir. One overall winner will be selected at each regional concert, and each choir member from the overall winning choir will also receive a Verizon Wireless phone and a $50 gift card. The overall winning choir from each city will also advance to the grand finale where they will compete to win more than $25,000 in cash and prizes.

In addition, the Verizon Wireless V CAST People's Choice Award will be given to the choir that captures the heart of the audience at each regional performance and at the grand finale performance. The V CAST People's Choice Award winners will receive $5,000.

2009 Tour Highlights

Donald Lawrence, GRAMMY ® -winning, songwriter, producer, arranger and music director, will emcee the tour for the second full year, and award-winning gospel artist, Marvin Sapp, will also be back as a judge. Once again, Verizon Wireless will select a local artist in each city to create a fine art piece to reflect the competition in their home city.

To entertain concert-goers again this year, Verizon Wireless will bring back the green screen at each tour stop for Gospel Karaoke. Participants can sing along with a gospel choir in front of a green screen so that their projected image is displayed onstage with the participating group. A copy of their performance can be sent to their mobile phones or uploaded to a Web site to be shared with friends and family.