Judges
David Saich
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David Saich is an Aries, enjoys travel and brief walks with his three irate cats Layla, Dolly and Lorena. Devastatingly handsome and mind-blowingly talented, David won silver in the 1986 Essex county high school 100m crawl, got his drivers license on the very first attempt and is clearly above average. Like, far above.
Also - has been a TV/video producer like forever and operates Asheville’s badass production company Fiasco Pictures and has won 6 Emmys over the course of his career.
Brian Adam Smith
Dr. Brian Adam Smith received his Ph.D. from Emory University and wrote his doctoral thesis on the history of the music video and its predecessors from the 1920's to the present. He was recently a professor at Clemson University and selected to be part of the Digital Creativity Faculty by the Center of Excellence in Next Generation Computing. He has filmed with numerous internationally renown and Grammy Award winning artists including Doc Watson, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Steve Martin, and works most closely with Asheville's own Steep Canyon Rangers.
Elizabeth Lashay
Elizabeth Lashay is an on-air personality and the creator of the Hip-Hip and RnB radio show, Slay the Mic on 103.3 Asheville FM.
Elizabeth has more than 6 years of radio experience, and a background in broadcasting, videography, and entertainment. Her passion for community engagement, music, and performing arts was ignited in 2013, while working for Iheartmedia in San Francisco, CA.
Alli Marshall
Alli Marshall is the arts section editor at Mountain Xpress. She’s been on staff with the local publication since 2003.
Alli grew up in Western New York and moved to North Carolina to attend Warren Wilson College. She’s been published in music and lifestyle magazines such as Our State, Metro Pop and Blurt, as well as literary publications such as Asheville Poetry Review and FifeLines.
Her debut novel, How to Talk to Rockstars, is available from Logosophia Books in May.