Nipissing student wins national competition to open for Lights
Nipissing’s Annie Sumi beat out nearly 200 other entries from all over Canada to win the chance to open for Lights.
Student Life Network (SLN) announced the result of its 'Open for Lights' contest last week, naming Sumi, an English major, the grand prize winner. As a result, Lights will play a show at Nipissing March 29 and Sumi will open the show in front of her fellow students.
The three-week talent contest, which ran in 60 campuses across the country, was sponsored by CIBC and saw 207 entries from students who entered by submitting videos to their school's private network. The student videos with the most votes at each school were then submitted to a panel of judges who selected the winner.
Sumi plays mostly folk music, though she says she tries to mix in bit of everything. She describes her musical influences as the old-timers: Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Woody Guthrie, Simon and Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, to name a few.
“I’m really still pretty amazed that I’ve got this opportunity,” said Sumi. “I’m so thankful to all the people who played a part in making this happen. The community here on campus is so supportive and they really helped me in this competition. That campus support is really what helped my video make it to the judging round.”
Here’s a link so you can see and hear Sumi’s talent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IDaom2KkOMk
Tickets for the Lights show will be free and available on March 27. Students who voted in the competition will have the first opportunity to get tickets. Additionally, students who show their CIBC debit or credit card at the concert will gain access to the CIBC Lounge at the show on a first-come first-served basis.
Lights is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She won the 2009 Juno Award for Best New Artist. On October 4, 2011, Lights' second studio album, Siberia, was released online to US and Canadian iTunes stores. The first single off of the album, Toes, was released on August 16.