The Whitman College Choral Contest has been part of campus tradition for 85 years since its conception in 1925. The year 2009 saw a twist to this campus staple with the introduction of the People’s Choice Award: or, as it is officially known, the David W. Ogle Award for Proficiency in the Field of Creative Musical and Lyrical Composition with Outstanding Mastery and Demonstration of Imaginative and Entertaining Medium through Performance.  

The first recipients of this award are the men of Beta Theta Pi, who also won first place in the men’s category. The Betas sang Kid Rock’s “Bawitadaba” and “Took My Girl Out Walking,” a Beta classic of unknown origin, to support their charity, Students for a Free Tibet (SFT).

According to its Web site, New York-based SFT is a non-profit founded in 1994 that strives to “make life difficult for the Chinese government” and raise awareness about human rights issues in Tibet. Through the People’s Choice Award, the Betas raised two boxes of food and over $100 for SFT.  

The Betas worked hard on their musical pieces, but had fun along the way.  

“I’m really proud of how hard the guys worked, they really came together to produce such an angelic tenor,” said junior Marshall Baker, conductor and arranger of the Beta Theta Pi production.    

“I don’t really have much to say other than ‘My name is Kid Rock.’ But really, I mean, it was fun and sweet to win finally,” said senior Riley Clubb, who helped Baker with the award winning arrangement.  

The People’s Choice Award is the brainchild of senior David Ogle. Ogle, along with senior Ben Keagan, sophomore Nigel Ramoz-Leslie and first-year Stephen Stradley, comprise the programming board sub-committee that proposed the idea of having a People’s Choice Award.  

“The programming committee was divided into four or five sub-committees to take care of Choral Contest. My sub-committee, which came up with the idea [of a People’s Choice Award] deals with rules and judges. Once we came up with it, the idea was instantly supported by the rest of the programming committee,” said Ogle.  

The People’s Choice Award added a dynamic element to the show by involving the audience.  

“I think a lot of [the motivation behind the award] was that the Choral Contest programming committee felt like they wanted to have something that would motivate some of the groups, that traditionally feel like they don’t have a chance at winning, to keep investing some energy in it and keep doing fun things that would get the crowd involved. I think we saw that: we saw performances that wanted to engage the audience,” said Leann White, assistant director to the student activities office.  

“We thought [the award] would be a good way to get the audience involved and get back to the basics of the event which is about being a fund-raiser while keeping in mind the first three letters of that word,” added Ogle.  

Audience response to the newly incorporated award was positive but, perhaps, not as widespread as anticipated.  

“Far fewer people [voted] than we gave out ballots to. There were probably about 30 ballots cast, and we gave out more ballots than that,” said White.  

Whether the response was mitigated due to the newness of the award or lack of awareness about the voting structure, the David W. Ogle Award is here to stay.  

“Absolutely we will continue [the award]. I think we do whatever we can to try and do some philanthropy with [the award] and I think people like to have a reason to give. It’s up to students ultimately, I really don’t get a choice, but I would say that is a good thing for them to do,” said White when asked whether the award would continue in subsequent years.