For the third consecutive year, Colombian songwriter/producer Estéfano was named BMI’s songwriter of the year at the rights body’s Latin Awards, presented today (March 16) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Estéfano’s company, World Deep Music Publishing Corp., was named publisher of the year. The company had five songs on BMI’s list of 50 most-performed titles for 2003, including “Es Por Amor” (performed by Alexandre Pires), “Herida Mortal” and “Vuela Muy Alto” (Jerry Rivera) and “No Me Enseñaste” (Thalía).
The song of the year trophy, awarded to the most-performed song, went to “Pérdoname Mi Amor” (Seg-Son Music), written by Ramón González Mora and performed by Conjunto Primavera.
During the awards, BMI also announced the first winner of the BMI Foundation/peermusic Latin scholarship. Established by the BMI Foundation and funded by the peermusic companies, the $5,000 scholarship will be awarded annually to a Latin music student for a song or instrumental composition. This year’s winner was Marco A. Godoy, a Berklee College of Music student from Venezuela.
