By: Anand Harsh

Once again, The Untz Challenge brought out the best hustling producers from across the electronic music industry for a knock down, drag out fight that went right down to the wire. In a squeaker of a finish, BIONIK was able to edge his competitors for the top spot in the polls when the voting period closed on Friday. The industry veteran has been working behind the scenes for two decades, beginning his career behind the audio console mixing, mastering, and engineering projects for big names. Now, Stefon Taylor, the Minneapolis-based artist gets to step out on to the big stage, performing at some of the biggest festivals in the country this summer.

Just as hard fought as the popular voting, was the discussion of Staff Pick by senior members of TheUntz.com once the voting closed. What we've always looked for is quality of track production, effort in capturing fan support during the voting period, and a drive and determination outside of the contest to build the brand. After a tough deliberation, we settled on Chris Johannesen, a.k.a. Spundose, who is participating in his fourth consecutive Challenge. Over the years, we've seen Johannesen's track quality steadily improve, and he's even snagged himself official releases on some of our favorite labels. Each year, he's always a fierce competitor in the vote department, and this year was no different. We know these two winners will represent The Untz brand well, and both have a shot at massive future success, using The Untz Challenge as a springboard.

BIONIK and Spundose have the opportunity to play at Summer Camp Music Festival, The Untz Festival, SONIC BLOOM, Electric Forest, ARISE Festival, Imagine Music Festival, and Backwoods Music Festival this season. They'll be traveling from coast to coast, and playing seven major events from May to September.

For all those artists who entered into the competition, both those who were selected as finalists and those who were not, we implore you to take a page from these artists' books, and keep after it. The harder you work, the better you'll become, and the sweeter the victory at the end of the road.