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Which Of 3 Songs Will Strike A Chord With Floridians?

Colin Hackley / Tampa Tribune

Sen. Anthony Hill, D-Jacksonville, left, and Rep. Ed Homan,R-Tampa, listen as three finalists for Florida's State Song are played during a news conference on Tuesday at the Capitol in Tallahassee.

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By GRETCHEN PARKER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 11, 2007

State Song Special Report

It's time for Floridians to name their tune.

Internet voting has opened in the Just Sing, Florida! contest to find a new state song. Three final songs, culled from a pile of 243 entries, were announced Tuesday at a news conference at the state Capitol.

The finalists are "Florida — Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky" by Jan Hinton (Pompano Beach); "Florida, My Home" by Betsy Dixon and Carl Ashley (Boynton Beach); and "My Florida Home" by Christopher Marshall (Orlando).

To listen and vote for your favorite, go to www.justsingflorida.org.

Judges eschewed the jingly tunes that were submitted in favor of more stately, somber-sounding compositions appropriate for state ceremonies.

The six judges scored the songs individually, so even they didn't know which were the winners until Tuesday's announcement.

The song that wins the most Internet votes will be written into legislation sponsored by Sen. Anthony Hill, D-Jacksonville, and Rep. Ed Homan, R-Tampa, next year.

Voting closes Jan. 11, when the winner will be announced at the Florida Music Educators' Association convention in Tampa.

Hill is leading the effort to retire Florida's current state song, widely known as "Swanee River." His goal is to find a song that can be used at state ceremonies. Gov. Charlie Crist and former Gov. Jeb Bush both nixed "Swanee River" from their inaugurations because of its racial undertones.

Reporter Gretchen Parker can be reached at gparker@tampatrib.com.

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