ISC received over 15,500 songs from amateur and professional songwriters from 100 countries worldwide The 2008 Grand Prize is awarded to Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall of Brisbane, QLD, Australia, for their song "Caught In The Crowd," a Pop song with an emotional message about schoolyard bullying and peer pressure.

The Blues category was judged by Bluesmen John Mayall and James Cotton, as well as Bruce Iglauer, founder of Alligator Records.

Candace Avery, Founder and Director of ISC, says, "As always, the entries in the Blues category this year represented a wide array of styles, from traditional to contemporary, and is a direct result of Blues artists exploring all aspects of the Blues. It is such a privilege to be able to hear so many amazing songs every year from so many talented songwriters."

Winning First Place in the Blues category is Darren Watson (Auckland, New Zealand) for his song "All Going Wrong." Watson is a singer-songwriter from Wellington, New Zealand, who has been performing his unique brand of Blues since 1985. He led the 1980’s New Zealand Blues band Smoke Shop. Several of the band's singles, penned by Watson, made it into the New Zealand Pop charts.

Uros Peric of Celje, Slovenia, was awarded Second Place for his song, "U.P. Down Blues." Peric is a young Slovenian musician (piano, vocal), songwriter, and composer. He has released four albums, two with Click Records (Germany) and two with RTV Slovenia.

Third Place honors are claimed by Chris James and Patrick Rynn of Chicago, Illinois, for their song "Mister Coffee." BluesWax readers are aware of James and Rynn as longtime leaders of their own band, The Blue Four. They were nominated by the Blues Foundation for a 2009 Blues Music Award in the category of "Best New Artist Debut" for the CD Stop and Think About It on Earwig Records.

In addition to these winners, 12 other Blues songs garnered an Honorable Mention in the category: