New York, NY, May 16, 2008: Marco Antonio Solís was named Songwriter of the Year at the 16th Annual ASCAP Latin Music Awards held tonight at The Ritz Carlton in Miami Beach. Victor Manuelle and Black:Guayaba received special ASCAP honors for career achievement. "Mi Corazoncito" was named Latin Song of the Year and Sony/ATV Music Publishing picked up Publisher of the Year honors. The awards celebration also honored the songwriters and publishers of ASCAP's most performed Latin songs of 2007.

Co-hosted by Telefutura's Charytin and Moda al Rescate's Daniel Lombardi, the black-tie gala is one of the most attended and celebrated events in the Latin entertainment community. Among the honorees, performers and luminaries in attendance were Arturo Sandoval, Johnny Pacheco, Marco Antonio Solís , Olga Tañon, Omar Alfanno, Sergio George, Tito Nieves, Tommy Torres, among many others.

Marco Antonio Solís was named ASCAP's Songwriter of the Year for penning seven award-winning songs – "Basta Ya," "Cómo Me Haces Falta," "Cuando Regreses," "Más Que Tu Amigo," "No Puedo Olvidarla," "Ojalá" and "Que Vuelva." The Latin Grammy ® award-winning artist is one of the most influential singer-songwriters in Latin America. His music remains as original today as it did when he first began burning up the charts, a feat he achieves by producing music that transcends trends and generation gaps, simply by following his own creative vision. Solís started 2008 with a huge bang winning the Songwriter of the Year Award at the Billboard Latin Awards and having 4 songs at the same time on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, including the #1 slot.

Special awards were presented to Latin music great Victor Manuelle and Grammy Award-winning rock band Black:Guayaba.

Long-time friend and collaborator Gilberto Santa Rosa and Telemundo's Rashel Diaz presented Victor Manuelle with the prestigious ASCAP Golden Note Award in recognition of his innovative and enduring contributions to music, both as a songwriter and as an artist, which have earned him an extraordinary place in Latin music worldwide. Previous Golden Note Award honorees include Garth Brooks, Jose Feliciano, Quincy Jones, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Tom Petty, Joan Sebastian and Stevie Wonder.

Black:Guayaba received the ASCAP Vanguard Award in recognition of the impact of musical genres that help shape the future of Latin music. Black:Guayaba is the first Latin music group to be recognized with the ASCAP Vanguard Award. Other notable recipients include The All-American Rejects, The Beastie Boys, Beck and Bjork.

"Mi Corazoncito" was named Latin Song of the Year. Performed by Aventura, the song was written by Anthony Santos and is published by Premium Latin Publishing.

ASCAP CEO John LoFrumento and ASCAP Senior Vice President, Membership Group – Latin Alexandra Lioutikoff presented the Publisher of the Year award to Sony/ATV Music Publishing for their 43 award-winning songs. This is the ninth time that Sony has received this honor.

Other top honors included:

• Tropical Song of the Year: "Shorty Shorty"written by Steven Tejeda, published by Univision Songs.
• Rock/Pop Song of the Year: "Bendita Tu Luz" written by Fher, published by Tulum Music and WB Music Corp.
• Regional Mexican Song of the Year: "Basta Ya" written by Marco Antonio Solis, published by Crisma.
• Pop/Ballad Song of the Year: "Tu Recuerdo"written by Tommy Torres,published by Mostly Sad Songs and WB Music Corp.
• Urban Song of the Year: "No Te Veo" written by J King, Maximan and Güelo Star, published by Las Leoncitas Music Publishing and WB Music Corp.

In the Television category, awards for Top Rated Theme Song for Soap Opera were presented to:

• "La Viuda de Blanco" (from La Viuda de Blanco) – written by Pablo Daniel Cáceres and Alberto Slezynger, published by Telemundo Music Publishing.
• "Marina Theme" (from Marina) – written by José Miguel De Narvaez (SAYCO), published by Telemundo Music Publishing.
• "Por Amarte" (from Destilandro De Amor) – written by Mauricio L. Arriaga and Jorge Eduardo Murguía, published by Publisher San Ángel.

Awards for Top Rated Original Music for TV /Incidental went to the 2007 Latin Grammy Awards and Noticiero Univision both written by Carlos Marmo and published by Nuestro Music.

About ASCAP
Established in 1914, ASCAP is the first and leading U.S. Performing Rights Organization representing the world's largest repertory totaling over 8.5 million copyrighted musical works of every style and genre from more than 320,000 composer, lyricist and music publisher members. ASCAP has representation arrangements with over 90 music rights organizations such that the ASCAP repertory is represented in nearly every country around the world. ASCAP protects the rights of its members and foreign affiliates by licensing the public performances of their copyrighted works and distributing royalties based upon surveyed performances. ASCAP is the only American Performing Rights Organization owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. www.ascap.com