The 2008 Iowa Blues Challenge features head-to-head competition culminating in a three-band Final round to be held Saturday, May 17, at the Hotel Fort Des Moines at 1000 Walnut Street in Des Moines, Iowa.

For the fifteenth year, the Central Iowa Blues Society, in cooperation with the Mississippi Valley Blues Society and Lizard Creek Blues Society, presents the 2008 Iowa Blues Challenge, an all-Iowa Blues band contest. This contest is open to any Iowa Blues band that has not been nominated for the Blues Music Awards (Handy’s).

Rounds will be held around the state of Iowa. Ten bands from the Des Moines area will compete in two preliminary rounds, each band performing 30-minute sets. Midnight Wine, Cold Shot, Avey Brothers, Trouble No More, and Kent Burnside & New Generation will start at 8 p.m. at Zimm's Food & Spirits in Des Moines on Thursday, April 10.

The second round will be at Blues On Grand on Thursday, April 17, starting at 8 p.m. with Hot Tamale & the Red Hots, Double Clutch, Case of the Blues, The Blues Bureau, and The Soul Searchers.

A preliminary round will also be held in the Quad Cities area at RIBCO on Saturday, April 12, at 8 p.m. featuring The Blues Explosion, Slim & the Bulletproof Boys, The Smokin’ Mojo Kings, and Pocket Deuces Blues Band.

Two bands from Des Moines and one band from the Quad Cities will advance to the Finals on Saturday, May 17, at the Hotel Fort Des Moines. The Iowa Blues Challenge features one of the finest prize packages for a contest of this kind in the country. Prizes are awarded to the top bands, including cash, travel expenses, recording time, as well as spots in the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in Davenport, Iowa; the Nitefall on the River in Des Moines; Simply the Blues Fest in Fort Madison, Iowa, and the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee.

For more information go to cibs.org.