Five Talented Musical Acts Head to New York City to Perform Live in Front of Kara DioGuardi for a Chance to Win $25,000

Five Finalists announced in Folgers® Jingle Contest

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May 11, 2011, 07:55 ET

ORRVILLE, Ohio, May 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Five musical acts are heading to New York City as finalists in the Folgers® Jingle Contest. The talented top five will compete in a live audition in front of award-winning songwriter and former American Idol® judge, Kara DioGuardi for a chance to win the grand prize of $25,000, a mentoring session with Kara and a chance to appear in a Folgers Coffee commercial.

The top five finalists:
Charles M. from Springfield, MO
Courtney R. from Gloucester, MA
Dorrell E. from Mesa, AZ
Jered L. from Fort Collins, CO
John P. from North Port, FL

"I'm all about taking a song and making it your own. It's been great to hear the diversity of The Best Part of Wakin' Up™ jingle submissions—from R&B to Country—musical genres of all types have been represented," said DioGuardi. "I'm excited to witness the creativity and musical talent first-hand at the judging event in New York City."

Visit www.bestpartofwakinup.com to view the finalists' video entries and complete Official Rules.

About the Contest

Thousands of creative musicians submitted video entries on www.bestpartofwakinup.com from January 19 through March 1, 2011. Qualified entries underwent an initial round of judging based on creativity/originality, musical performance, and adherence to creative assignment and were then narrowed down to a group of ten semi-finalists.

From March 31 through April 25, 2011, the top ten semi-finalist entries were posted to www.bestpartofwakinup.com for a public vote. The top five finalists were determined based on points awarded from both the initial judging round and online vote totals.

Finalists will travel to New York City in June 2011 to compete in the live grand prize audition and perform their version of The Best Part of Wakin' Up jingle in front of Kara DioGuardi and a panel of judges. One finalist will be named the Grand Prize Winner and receive $25,000, the chance to appear in a future Folgers commercial and chance to receive a music mentoring session from Kara DioGuardi.

About The J. M. Smucker Company

For more than 110 years, The J.M. Smucker Company has been committed to offering consumers quality products that help families create memorable mealtime moments. Today, Smucker is a leading marketer and manufacturer of fruit spreads, retail packaged coffee, peanut butter, shortening and oils, ice cream toppings, sweetened condensed milk, and health and natural foods beverages in North America. Its family of brands includes Smucker's®, Folgers®, Dunkin' Donuts®, Jif®, Crisco®, Pillsbury®, Eagle Brand®, R.W. Knudsen Family®, Hungry Jack®, White Lily® and Martha White® in the United States, along with Robin Hood®, Five Roses®, Carnation®, Europe's Best® and Bick's® in Canada. The Company remains rooted in the Basic Beliefs of Quality, People, Ethics, Growth and Independence established by its founder and namesake more than a century ago. The Company has appeared on FORTUNE Magazine's list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in the United States 13 times, ranking number one in 2004. For more information about the Company, visit www.smuckers.com.

The J.M. Smucker Company is the owner of all trademarks, except Pillsbury, the Barrelhead logo and the Doughboy character are trademarks of The Pillsbury Company, LLC, used under license; Carnation is a trademark of Societe des Produits Nestle S.A., used under license; and Dunkin' Donuts is a registered trademark of DD IP Holder, LLC, used under license. Borden and Elsie are trademarks used under license.

American Idol is a trademark of Fremantle Media North America, Inc.

SOURCE The J.M. Smucker Company