Cansecos Are World's Best Songwriters

Bill Halliday and Gareth Jones of Toronto's The Cansecos are officially the world’s best electronic/dance songwriters.

The catchy funk jam "Raised By Wolves" from last year's Juices! has won the International Songwriting Competition's award for best electronic/dance song of 2008. Nic Gorissen (Bignic) of Penetanguishene, Ont. placed third in the category.

More than 15,500 songs were submitted to the ISC in a variety of categories. Songs were judged based on creativity, originality, lyrics, melody and arrangement. The judges included Tom Waits, T-Pain, Robert Smith, Ray Davies, Black Francis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tiesto and Chaka Khan.

The overall grand prize winners, Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall, received $25,000 U.S. (about $29,400 Canadian) in cash, while first-place winners in each category were awarded $3,000 in prizes. Many of the winners will be featured on an ISC compilation that will be distributed to music industry professionals.