Announcing the Six Finalists who will be appearing at Dodger Stadium for Mormon Night on August 6, 2009!

The winners, selected by judges in Los Angeles and in Salt Lake City are:

Jared Allen, Pop Singer and Teacher of Music for Utah Boys & Girls Clubs
Michelle Baer, Grandmother and wonderful singer from Mesa, Arizona
Heather Elmer, American Idol Hopeful from South Jordan, Utah
Kadee Smith, Beautiful singer with new roots in Georgia

All finalists will be welcomed on the field at Mormon Night, and will learn that evening which terrific contestants will be the Dodgers pick to sing the national anthem or perform God Bless America at the 7th Inning Stretch. Each contestant will receive a cash award, tickets to the game for their friends or family, appear on Dodgervision and receive a video of the pre-game activities, and have an audition with Deseret Book's Shadow Mountain Records.

The top 20 performers from LDS Open Auditions are also being featured on DBtv and YouTube.

We extend our thanks to the FIVE HUNDRED singers who participated in the 2009 LDS OPEN AUDITIONS, and put their hearts into this first-ever opportunity. Eighty semi-finalists auditioned live, and each and every one was talented, offered a different view of the national anthem, and could have been selected as a finalist. Our judges determined finalists by the strength of their performance, the power of their voice for an outdoor arena, the unique style they brought to the anthem, their personality, and their personal experience in public singing.

All of our contestants should keep practicing! Keep dreaming! We look forward to seeing you again in the future.

Thanks to our partners at Deseret Book, to the Southern California Public Affairs Council for sponsoring this event, to the great people at the Conference Center and in Los Angeles who staged our auditions, and to KSL Television and Radio, the Mormon Times, The Church News, and California's LDS Trumpet for their support of this first LDS OPEN AUDITIONS.

Sonja Eddings Brown
Producer,
LDS Open Auditions