The choir belted its way up to a $5,000 prize in the 98.5 KFOX radio station’s annual “School of Rock” contest. The contest, dependent on on-line votes, was from Apr. 11 to 17.

Each year, after receiving submissions, the radio station picks its favorite songs, explained junior choir member Rivka Kelly. “You send in three songs and they pick their favorite two and post them on the Internet.”

KFOX’s favorite two songs that the Gunn choir sent in were “Brown Eyed Girl,” originally by Van Morrison and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” originally by the Rolling Stones.

After hearing of the competition from a student’s mother, choir director Bill Liberatore had little time to prepare. “We prepared the songs in a week,” he said.

Junior Chloe Fuller, a soloist in “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” reflected upon a good experience recording the music. “It was really refreshing,” she said.

To promote chances of winning by publicizing the voting process, members of the choir made an event on the social networking site, Facebook, and a video announcement to play in the mornings to garner student votes.

Before the winner of the competition was announced, choir members were speculating. “We have more connections, so we have a better chance,” Brown said. In addition to spreading the word to friends, the size of the choir made students more confident in their chances of winning. “I think Gunn has a very good chance because we have 120 people [in the choir],” Brown said before the winners were announced.

Upon hearing of the choir’s win, Liberatore was in shock, he said. “It was nice to get acknowleged,” he said.

Liberatore said that the money prize will go to funding the choir trip this year to New York City. “We pledged to help a lot of families,” he said.

Aside from the money, the competition offered other prizes. Following the announcement of the choir’s win on the KFOX website, the radio station called Liberatore, to arrange for the choir to perform on-air on Wednesday. In addition to the two chosen songs, the choir will perform four others, including the one that was not chosen, “Twist and Shout,” originally by the Beatles. The choir will also get a $500 gift certificate to Guitar Showcase, a store in San Jose.

Gunn will refrain from entering next year, Liberatore said. “We’ll give someone else a chance,” he said, grinning.