Honourable mentions:

I’ve included another couple submissions that were outstanding, and easily could have placed. This was submitted by the lovely Margaret Thompson, an ‘insider’ that helps with the Niagara Mix-Tape Union dealings. She didn’t want to claim a prize in order for someone else to have one, but this probably would have taken second place very easily. The entire theme of the mix was candy, and as you can see by the packaging it was able to transform into a gumball machine. The severity of the theme even went so far as to have pretty much every title feature the word candy somehow.

This bad-boy was submitted by a fellow named Sean Condon who’s been taking part in these swap meets since day one. Apart from being a fountain of music knowledge, he clearly knows how to knock one out of the park with layout and design as well. It’s unfortunate that you can’t see the full extent of its majesty by this picture, but it had a three-page fold out, which had been mocked up in some sort of graphic program. It looked completely like a finished product you would purchase for an album, and is one of the only submissions we’ve ever received that didn’t have some form of ‘hands on’ feel that could have easily placed. They seriously should have got this man to design the SCENE compilation CD packaging, as this is far superior. Anyway, all of the judges were severely impressed, and thus why it gets the second honourable mention.

Funniest cover of a submission we’ve ever received. This wasn’t a straight-edge theme mix either, although that would have been a flawless cover for one.