Olympia’s Micaiah Sawyer wins MoPOP’s 2018 Sound Off! music competition

Olympia’s Micaiah Sawyer won the top prize in the 17th annual Sound Off! competition at the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle over the weekend, earning the 21-year-old an opportunity to perform at the 2018 Bumbershoot Festival.

Maiah Wynne from Gresham, Oregon, came in second; Seattle’s Strawberry Mountain and Misundvrstood with Gypsy Temple took third and fourth place respectively. All of the finalists will perform at Upstream Music Fest + Summit in June.

Sound Off! is a regional battle of the bands and launch pad for young musicians and vocalists. All finalists receive gear, studio time, radio airplay, and one-on-one consultations with industry professionals.

The finals competition Saturday night was broadcast live from the museum on 90.3 KEXP’s Audioasis.

Sawyer, whose first name is pronounced “Mih-KIE-uh,” grew up in Wisconsin and Arizona. She moved to Olympia three years ago with her parents, Greg and Tonya Sawyer.

She performs regularly at the Pig Bar’s 9 p.m. Wednesday open mic and also has played at Obsidian, Le Voyeur and Alderbrook Resort and Spa. Her first EP, “Rest,” is for sale on her website, micaiahsawyer.com.

A devoted Christian, Sawyer writes songs about her life, her struggles and her faith in God. She doesn’t characterize her music as Christian, but says that even her sad songs carry a message of hope.

This story was originally published March 5, 2018 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Olympia’s Micaiah Sawyer wins MoPOP’s 2018 Sound Off! music competition."