By Mark Coddington
mark.coddington@theindependent.com

Print Story | e-mail Story | Visit Forums

Featured Advertiser

Independent/Barrett Stinson Megan Pattison sings ³Footprints in the Sand¹ by Leona Lewis during Saturday night¹s Northwest Idol vocal singing competition sponsored by the Northwest Educational Foundation. Pattison went on to be named Northwest Idol, winning $100 in cash. Independent/Barrett Stinson Northwest Idol fans (from left) Kali Ramsey, 18, Nicole Greenwalt, 16, and Hannah Gonnerman, 17, cheer for finalist Megan Pattison after her performance Saturday night during the second annual Northwest Idol competition at Grand Island Northwest High. Click Thumbnails to View

"Megan, you had me on the first two notes," said Rahn Vander Hamm, Chapman principal and one of the event's judges. "Wow. That was amazing."

Julia Bradley of KSYZ, another judge, quickly pitched in her praise.

"Girl, you got an 'it' factor," she said. "You're fabulous."

But Pattison's peers were the first to weigh in they erupted with cheers and whistles as she held one climactic high note.

So it was no surprise when Pattison was named the winner of the second annual Northwest Idol contest.

But she wasn't the only one to receive the adoration of several dozen diehard fans packed into the first few rows of the Northwest auditorium.

After and often during each performance, they cheered and whooped, holding aloft homemade signs emblazoned with phrases like "You're my Northwest Idol!" and "Will you marry me?"

They had good reason: They got to hear 11 impressive performances, led by Pattison and second- and third-place finishers Sam Schneider and Amy Waggerman.

Schneider wowed the crowd of about 240 with an impassioned a capella finish to The Lion King's "Endless Night," and Waggerman's confident rendition of Heart's "Alone" brought them to their feet, too.

But the night belonged to Pattison, with her virtually flawless version of "Footprints in the Sand" by Leona Lewis fittingly enough, the winner of the British version of American Idol.

Pattison had never heard the song until last week and just started practicing it last Sunday, but her vocal flourishes and stage presence had the judges raving over her as if she was already a star.

She walked away with the $100 top prize for the event, which was a fundraiser for the Northwest Educational Foundation.

And as soon as the crowd was dismissed, she was greeted with what else? a spree of hugs from friends in the Idol cheering section.

"It's a really big family," Pattison said afterward. "We get to know each other because we spend so much time together. It's a really great support system."