T he D'Jammy Awards is a competition for student music creators. 

It was started in 2012 by Dr. Mike Bogle at Cedar Valley College as part of his Digital Music Production and Composition degree program within the Commercial Music Department. Dr. Bogle wished to create a healthy and fair competition to inspire students to create more and better songs, and to hone their critical listening and analysis skills. Each song submission must be submitted by a final deadline (typically March 31st) and then students and alumni (the voting members of the D'Jammy Awards) listen to one-minute clips of each submission during classes and in some cases online, and then rank each submission from lowest to highest. The songs that receive the highest number of points will win each category. Submissions are collected throughout the eligibility year-typically from April 1st through March 31st and the D'Jammy Awards Ceremony is usually held during the Commercial Music Recital at Cedar Valley College, coinciding with the performance of the CVC Keyboard Ensemble (aka "The Seas of Keys") which serves as the house band for the event. The event started with a single category in 2012 and has grown to 15 categories in 2020 (Hip Hop Instrumental, Hip Hop Vocal/Rap, Contemporary Instrumental, World Music, Video Game Music, Rock, Spoken Word, EDM, Film Score, Gospel, Jazz, Orchestration, Pop, R&B, and Wild Card (for entries that don't quite fit into a category). No genre is intentionally left out (such as Classical or Country). The categories fluctuate a bit each year based on the tastes, interests and entries from the current group of students. Winners of each category receive a framed certificate bearing their name and category and also a cash scholarship roughly equal to the amount of one credit hour at Cedar Valley College. The D'Jammys are supported by the Musical Institute for Knowledge and Education, a non-profit charitable organization (501c3) based in Dallas, TX, which provides the scholarship money each year as well as covering the expenses for the framed certificates and other production-related costs. Some of the D'Jammy winners have gone on to have submissions accepted by the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, although none have received a nomination yet. Dr. Mike Bogle received a Grammy nomination for his arrangement (Best Arrangement on an Instrumental category) of Chick Corea's composition "Got A Match?" in 1991/1992 and traveled to New York for the ceremony where he ultimately lost out to Dave Grusin of GRP Records fame. This experience, of being recognized by professional peers and getting an insider look at the Music Industry's biggest night, had an indelible effect on the young Dr. Bogle, and this was ultimately the catalyst for the creation of the 

D'Jammy Awards at Cedar Valley College. 

Students interested in Commercial Music production, songwriting and composition may contact Dr. Bogle about submitting entries for next year's D'Jammy Awards. 

In addition to the conference of the D'Jammy Awards, this year at the D'Jammy Awards ceremony (2020), the Music and Commercial Music faculty (now two separate departments) recognized outstanding achievement in each of the four Commercial Music degree areas plus a separate award for Classical Music. 

Dr. Ruben Johnson, Dean

 

Outstanding Music Business Student:

Michael Taylor

 

Outstanding Digital Music Producers & Composers:

 Emmanuel Lopez, Andrew Asemokai, Kristina Corona

 

Outstanding Vocal Performer:

Jakoby Barlow

 

Outstanding Instrumental Performer: 

Wynton McClain, drums

 

Outstanding Recording Tech Student:

 Jocelyn Garcia, recording technician

 

Liberal Arts Music Faculty Award to Outstanding Student:

(Liberal Arts and Transfer Division - Dr. Solomon Cross, Dean)

 

Outstanding Classical Performer:

Roxanna Walker-Perkins, vocalist