March 31, 2025 | Atlanta, GA
The team of Georgia Institute of Technology’s innovative educational platform EarSketch is happy to announce the winners of the “Manufacture Your Music” remix competition for Georgia students. The competition, open to all residents of the state, centered around the production process of manufacturing music and was co-sponsored by the Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM) project.
The winning remixes have been posted online and can be heard here (scroll down to second competition results).
FIRST PRIZE:
Gavin Ownbey
Teacher: Rona Williams | Collins Hill High School, Suwanee, GA- SECOND PRIZE:
Sophia McCarthy
Teacher: Tonia McRary | Rabun County High School, Rabun, GA - THIRD PRIZE:
Verity Steinbauer
Teacher: Lashonta Flemister | Hiram High School, Hiram, GA - HONORABLE MENTION:
Arnaldo Lopez-Rivera
Teacher: Rona Williams | Collins Hill High School, Suwanee, GA - HONORABLE MENTION:
Duane McClain
Teacher: Tenneille Patterson | Woodward Academy, College Park, GA - HONORABLE MENTION:
Joshua Bryant
Teacher: Lashonta Flemister | Hiram High School, Hiram, GA
First-place winner Gavin Ownbey said, “I wanted to express how stress builds over time with this song. At first, the song has a floaty and mysterious feel, but towards the middle of the song, the bass is used to build suspense.”
“While creating this project, I learned how to write a program in the context of manufacturing music,” he continued. “This song is a reflection of my experiences and the outlook of my life. Expressing this has helped me understand how to make the most out of my life.”
Winners were chosen from more than 100 entries. Prizes for winners included a $500 Amazon gift card for first place, a $250 Amazon gift card for second place, a $100 Amazon gift card for third place, and $25 Amazon gift cards for honorable mentions.
Winners from the competition and their families visited with the EarSketch team at the 2025 Guthman Music, Art, and Technology Fair, which is part of the annual Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at Georgia Tech. The Guthman Competition highlights the world's next generation of musical instruments and unveils the best new ideas in musicality, design, engineering, and impact. The EarSketch team, some of whom are housed in Tech's Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC), also held a mini-hacking competition at the event.
“I am thrilled that our Georgia winners were able to come to Georgia Tech to be recognized for their incredible work and to see music and technology in action on our campus at our Guthman Musical Instrument Competition and accompanying music, art, and technology fair,” said Jason Freeeman, interim associate provost for the arts at Tech. “I am excited to see what these talented students do next in the realm of arts and technology.”
“This competition bridges the gap between the creative and manufacturing industries, helping students see iterative design and problem-solving as essential to both,” said CEISMC Program Director Sabrina Grossman. ”By blending artistic expression with STEM innovation, we hope to inspire the next generation of creators, engineers, and entrepreneurs, preparing them for the future of music and technology."
Since launching in 2011, the free EarSketch platform has been used by more than one million users, including students in all 50 U.S. states and in more than 100 countries. The music/coding platform was created at Georgia Tech by Jason Freeman and Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Professor Brian Magerko and is designed to teach students to code in Python or JavaScript through music and creative discovery.
EarSketch has also received support from the National Science Foundation, which awarded a $3 million grant to the team in 2014 and a further $2.1 million grant in 2018 to add an artificial intelligence-driven “co-creative” tab to the platform. The project also has received funding from the Scott Hudgens Family Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and the Google Inc. Fund of Tides Foundation. EarSketch was highlighted by the White House in 2016 among its Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) national initiatives.
—Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications
