Ireland’s all Christmas radio station, Christmas FM, has announced the finalists for the Christmas FM 2010 Irish Christmas Song Contest. Chosen by a panel of leading music industry experts including Jackie Hayden (Hot Press), Lauren Murphy (The Irish Times), Martin Burns (News of the World), and Keith Johnson (IMRO), the four finalists whose songs have been shortlisted are:

SONG A: Garrett Wall – How Christmas was meant to be
SONG B: The Allstars - Over the Rooftops
SONG C: The Best Men – This is Christmas to me
SONG D: Snow Business – Christmas Time

Commenting on the finalists, Walter Hegarty, Christmas FM’s Technical Director said, “The response has been incredible. We received an eclectic mix of original Christmas songs from songwriters all over the country. Our judging panel had a really difficult job of whittling them down to our final four. We are now calling on Christmas FM’s listeners to join in the festive spirit by voting for their favourite song and helping to support Barnardos who benefit financially from every vote.”

The four finalists’ songs will be playlisted on Christmas FM and can be heard on Christmas FM’s website at [link]www.christmasfm.ie[/link]. Listeners can vote for their favourite entry by texting the word SONG followed by a space and either A,B,C or D depending on their favourite song, to 57000. Voting ends Sunday, December 12 at midnight.

The overall winner of the contest will be given the opportunity to professionally record their song, plus €500 in gift vouchers and playlisting on Christmas FM. The winning entry will also be released online as a charity Christmas single with all proceeds being donated to Barnardos.

A strictly Yuletide-influenced station, Christmas FM aims to raise €100,000 for its charity partner Barnardos this year through a combination of online donations, texts and corporate sponsorship.

Christmas FM is broadcasting throughout Dublin (89.9FM), Cork (106.7FM), Galway (89.5FM), Limerick (105.5FM), the South East (103.8FM) and online at [link]www.christmasfm.ie[/link].