2017 ICCA Wild Card Results

Congratulations to Amazin’ Blue, who will be moving on to the ICCA Finals at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on April 22nd.

ICCA Wild Card Judges:

Ben Spalding
Ben is the head Choral Director at Centerville High School in Centerville, Ohio. He is an avid supporter of a cappella music and recently wrote a book with Deke Sharon and Brody McDonald, called A Cappella (available at amazon.com and other resellers). He is a founding member of the A Cappella Education Association and is associated with several other a cappella organizations. He is an instructor at Camp A Cappella and a clinician for vocal groups across the country. Forte, the premier a cappella group at CHS, are the 2016 ICHSA Champions and three time national runners-up.

Kimberly Sailor
Kimberly Raschka Sailor is the current Editor-in-Chief of the Recorded A Cappella Review Board (RARB), with more than 300 reviews authored since 2005 for groups at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. She is the co-founder and past president of the University of Southern California’s Reverse Osmosis, a group that has competed in the ICCA Finals. Kimberly has also served as a CARA (Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award) nominator and judge. In addition to volunteering in the a cappella community, Kimberly is an author and elected school board member for the Mount Horeb Area School District in Wisconsin.

Candice Helfand-Rogers
Candice Helfand-Rogers has been active in the a cappella community for over a decade. At Rutgers University, she sang with and was the music director for Deep Treble, then went on to help found (and music direct) ShockWave, all before graduating in 2005. Two years later, she teamed up with several collegiate a cappella alumni in New York City to form Restated (formerly known as The Red States), and served as musical director for its first three years of existence. She has garnered multiple awards for her contributions to these groups, both onstage and in the studio. Candice’s voice can also be heard in Universal Studios’ hit a cappella movie Pitch Perfect as well as its sequel. By day, she is a digital media professional and serves as a content producer and secretary for the Women’s A Cappella Association. In the past, she has generated content for A Cappella Records and CASA.

Johanna Vinson
Johanna Vinson got her start in a cappella with University of Oregon’s Divisi. In addition to being a founding member of one of the first professional female groups in the country, Musae, Jo performed with Delilah on season 3 of “The Sing-Off,” with Element on season 4, and is currently the leading lady in the five-member, Boston-based a cappella group, Overboard. She is the voice of the lady bass in the movie Pitch Perfect 2 and is a director at A Cappella Academy, the prestigious summer camp in Los Angeles founded by friends Ben Bram, Rob Dietz, and Avi Kaplan. Jo regularly travels the world as a performer and teacher. While home in Houston, she teaches voice lessons and arranges for many a cappella groups across the country.

Alexander Koutzoukis
Alexander Koutzoukis is co-owner (among other titles) of Plaid Productions, a full-service a cappella production studio based in Boston. While attending Tufts University for computer science, he spent five years in The Beelzebubs, two of them as their music director. He got his start in a cappella production with Ed Boyer and Bill Hare on two award-winning Bubs albums (Pandaemonium and Play the Game) and went on to help record and edit BATTLE and Helix, as well as about half of The Warblers’ tracks from season 2 of the hit Fox TV show Glee. He won a 2010 Best Male Collegiate Arrangement CARA for “All the Love In the World,” was runner-up in 2012 for “Kings and Queens,” and was also runner-up for Favorite Vocal Percussionist in the 2010 ACAs. He currently executive produces BOSS and does graphic design work for BOSS and SoJa.