Southeast Missouri State University alumnus Bobby Evans, 36, of Silex, Missouri, was anounced as a runner-up winner in the 17th annual Country Music Television -- National Songwriters Association International Songwriter Competition.

The NSAI competition received more than 2,000 submissions, and a panel of industry professionals chose 11 finalists. To decide the grand-prize winner, the songs were posted on the NSAI website, www.nsai.cmt.com, for voting during the month of February. Among those finalists was Evans' song "The Next Generation."

"Right now there is a gap between older-style country music and new country music and my song is about bridging that gap," Evans said.

"The Next Generation" is a song Evans co-wrote with Joe Bizelli and former Southeast student Tyler Lewis.

Evans said the process for creating the song was fairly quick.

"We got an idea together, laid out what we wanted to be in [the song], wrote the verses, then the chorus," Evans said. "It took us about three hours, and then we had the song."

Evans began writing lyrics in junior high school and continued to write in his dorm at Southeast.

While attending Southeast, he connected with another Southeast graduate, Chris Blair, with whom he co-wrote songs.

Evans, who majored in criminal justice and minored in sociology, is not only passionate about his music but also dedicated to his career.

"I knew that making a career in the music industry was a very hard thing to do, but I have always been interested in music," Evans said. "But I knew that I had to make a living so I became a police officer after I graduated."

The grand-prize award was a mentoring session with Charles Kelley, a Nashville recording artist with Lady Antebellum.

Read more at SoutheastArrow.com.