A group of proven and talented singers will be in full voice on Thursday, Sept. 24, to per-form songs of the fifties and sixties in the second annual Lyrics For Literacy event to be held at The King Auditorium on the Calhoun campus of Georgia Northwestern Technical College.

Lyrics for Literacy is a fund-raising event for The Calhoun-Gordon Council For a Literate Community (Literacy Council).

Festivities begin at 7 p.m., with a further highlight being the awarding of the 2008-2009 Academic Achievement of the Year, with nominations from city and county public schools.

Sherry Childs, whose many theater and singing experiences include events that feature Patsy Cline songs, will again act as Master of Ceremonies. She will introduce a new song, a ballad, that refers to The Legend of the Lost Trumpet, a Civil War parody about the night General William T. Sherman spent in Calhoun on his fire-lit way to Savannah.

The trumpet adorns the trophy presented to the sponsor of the winning singer. Judging will be done on showmanship, audience reaction and costume.

Performers will include, listed with sponsors:

Lisa Dunbar, St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church; Mark Watters, Century Bank; George God-dard, OWASA Family Medicine; Carmen Green, The Calhoun Rotary Club; Amy Stewart, Georgia Northwestern Technical College; Claire Norman, The Calhoun Kiwanis Club; Cam-eron Abney, Walmart Stores and OMNOVA Solutions, singer to be announced.

Proceeds from the event go toward test funding and other supplies and needs for the GED program at GNTC Calhoun and to the winning nominee of the academic achievement award for city and county schools.

A representative from Hall Realty will act as official presenter of the academic achieve-ment award. Hall Realty has purchased sponsorship in three letters of the alphabet in each of the three years of ABCs of Scholarship, a fund-raising event conducted by the literacy council in which sponsorship to letters are sold.

“This company, Hall Realty, has shown proven interest in its concern to promote literacy in Gordon County,” said Wayne Minshew, executive director of the literacy council. “It pur-chased three letters without hesitation and, in fact, with eagerness in each of our three years doing ABCs of Scholarship. That amounts to a figure close to $3,000, money used in good faith and toward useful and necessary literacy programs. We are very grateful to Hall Realty, and to all our participating sponsors in these piggy-back programs, ABCs and Lyrics For Literacy.”

Nominees for the award include Georgia Career Student Association at Calhoun High and the Academic Bowl program at Gordon Central.

ABCs of Scholarship sponsors include A, Alpha Delta Kappa, Florida Fidelis PI; B, Dr. Tonya Baker; C, Gordon County Commissioners; D, The Dobbs Company; E, the Chamber’s Tourist & Convention Bureau; F, Fox Systems; G, Georgia Bank & Trust; I, Hall Realty; J, (Jackets) Calhoun City Schools; K, Dr. Shireen Ku; L, Larry House Office Supplies; N, North Georgia National Bank; O, OMNOVA Solutions; Q, Quest (Beverly Primmer, Coleen Brooks, Spence Ramsey); R, Regions Bank; S, Gordon County Sheriff’s Office; T, Calhoun Times; U, Hall Realty; V, (Value) Walmart Stores; W, Hall Realty; X, X-Factor Phyllis Purdy, Sandra Hall, Wayne Minshew); Y, YES (Youth Education is Special) Brumlow Mills; Z, Anon.

Angela Childers, representing then-Coosa Valley Technical College, won last year’s com-petition in the event’s debut. Thus, the Legend of the Lost Trumpet trophy has resided at the GNTC adult learning center for the past year.