Yamaha, NASMD Sponsor School Music Dealer Magazine's Road Rep of the Year Contest

BUENA PARK, Calif. — School Music Dealer magazine has announced the winners of its first annual Road Representative of the Year contest. Open to educational road reps who work for retail companies in the music business, the contest drew nominations from all over the United States and Canada.

Road Representative of the Year Receives Check
Yamaha's Gary Winder, Jay Schreiber, Rick Young, Roger Eaton and Ed Boyer flank Road Rep of the Year John Oord (with check).
Sponsored by Yamaha Corporation of America's Band & Orchestral Division and the National Association of School Music Dealers (NASMD), cash prizes included $1,000 to the first prize winner, $750 to the second place winner, and $500 to the third place winner. Additionally, first prize winner received an all expenses paid trip to the NASMD conference in Tucson, Arizona, which took place March 21 – 24.

From a very strong field of candidates, prizes were awarded as follows: first prize went to John Oord of Ted Brown Music in Washington; second prize went to Dennis Howren of Howren Music in North Carolina; and third prize went to Tom Fox of Quinlan & Fabish Music in Illinois.

Road Representative of the Year Receives Award
Yamaha's Rick Young, Road Rep of the Year John Oord, School Music Dealer's Daniel Miller and NASMD President Mark Goff.
Every week, thousands of visits are made to school music programs throughout the United States and Canada by mobile sales reps. This contest was created by School Music Dealer publisher Daniel Miller, who notes, "The road reps are the true unsung heroes in the business of music education. These are the people who keep programs thriving and help others survive – a job which requires a wide set of skills. We set out to recognize what makes a great rep and reward them for a job well done."

School Music Dealer developed a sophisticated scoring system based on interviews with educators and dealers and requires finalists to write an essay. This year's essay question was "what are the duties of a great school service rep?"

"Road reps play a very important role in Yamaha's success, as well as the success of school music education programs, and we are happy to recognize their efforts and hard work," says Roger Eaton, Director of Marketing, Yamaha Band & Orchestral Division.

For details on the contest and an application for future contests, please visit www.smd.com.

For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Band & Orchestral Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; e-mail infostation@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamaha.com/band.