LZHS Group Moving on to Sing! Semifinals

group Bare Voices has been selected to move on to the semifinal round of the national Sing! competition.

was among three groups and three soloists chosen to move on to the next round. The other performers include: Midnight Blues, Palatine High School; Encore, Buffalo Grove; Kate Diaz, soloist; Janey Age, soloist; and Martin Hughes, soloist.

"We're over the moon," said Bare Voices director Nick Juknelis. "We're very, very excited and we're mobilizing our resources to get the word out there to vote."

People can vote on their favorite group or soloist once per day from now through Oct. 5. Visit www.deerpark.2011sing.com to vote.

"We’ve contacted all of our teachers, our friends, our Facebook contacts, so on to get them to vote for us," said Juknelis. "You can vote once per day per email address.  We’re trying to add more voters for our group every single day!"

Bare Voices is made up of 18 students. They sent in an audio recording of their original song, Build Me Up Buttercup, for the chance to audition for the competition. The group then practiced every day and had a three-day camp at the end of August to prepare.

. More groups and soloists performed Sept. 24.

The grand prize for the winning group includes $20,000 to the charity of choice as well as a $5,000 MasterCard gift card. The grand prize for the soloist includes $5,000 to his or her charity and $2,500 in MasterCard gift cards. Both winners will get a personalized experience with Emmy Award-winning singer/songwriter .

Should they win, Bare Voices intends to donate its winnings to the Michael Lynch Memorial Foundation, which gives scholarships to children who lost parents on Sept. 11, 2001.