Ireland’s all Christmas radio station, Christmas FM, today announced the finalists for the Christmas FM 2009 Irish Christmas Song Contest. Chosen by a panel of leading music industry experts including Jackie Hayden, (Hot Press) Lauren Murphy (The Irish Times) and Keith Johnson (IMRO), the six finalists whose songs have been shortlisted are:

SONG A: RWMD – How I love Christmas
SONG B: Mickey Harte – Christmas Day
SONG C: Funzo – This Christmas
SONG D: Paul Cunningham & Holly Callaghan – Counting the days till Christmas
SONG E: Sinead Mcnally and Friends – It’s nearly Christmas
SONG F: Sean Needham – A child could save us all

Launched in October, the nationwide song competition is seeking to discover the next great Irish Christmas song. The response to the competition has been overwhelming with a flood of Irish artists answering the call to pen a yuletide masterpiece.

The six finalists’ songs will be now playlisted on Christmas FM and can also be heard on Christmas FM’s website at www.christmasfm.ie/songcontest. Listeners can vote for their favourite entry by texting the word SONG followed by a space and either A,B,C,D,E, or F, depending on your favourite song to 57199. All proceeds from text votes are being donated to the Simon Communities of Dublin and Cork.

The overall winner of the contest will be announced on Wednesday, 9th December. The winner will be given the opportunity to professionally record the song and receive regular airplay on Christmas FM. The song will be released online as a charity Christmas single with all proceeds being donated to the Simon Communities, Dublin and Cork. The winner will also receive a €500 voucher for X-Music in Dublin.