Winnipeg-based punks Propagandhi have won the recently unveiled ECHO Songwriting Prize.

The band was among five nominees in a contest that sought to honor the most innovative, creative and artistic songs created in the past year by emerging songwriters in Canada. SOCAN is similar to ASCAP in the United States.

The band added:

In a true testament to the power of people clicking small buttons on internet websites, Propagandhi have been declared the winner (by an overwhelming majority it is rumoured) of SOCAN's 1st annual ECHO Songwriting Prize for the song A Speculative Fiction.

Although initially the band claimed the prize money (a tidy $5000) would be donated to various community and activist efforts, Chris Hannah (recently reinstated front-man for the band) said earlier today in an email to G7 that the funds would now go into the "research and develpment of the world's first-ever two-sided condom." More details of this development will be posted here as we have them.

Punknews.org offers it's congratulations. Thanks to everyone who voted. The band will be honored at a ceremony tomorrow in Toronto.