After a competitive two-night competition in Late Nite Binghamton’s annual singer-songwriter competition, Sara Greenberg emerged victorious. She impressed judges with her cover of the “Golden Girls” theme song on acoustic guitar as part of this year’s TV show theme.

“The concert was a thrilling experience and I was honored to share the stage with so many talented people,” said Greenberg, a sophomore majoring in biology.

On the first night, each performer played an original song, as well as a cover of a TV show theme song. The judges picked the top five performers, who returned on Nov. 10 to perform the same TV show cover and up to two original songs each. This year’s finalists also included Mikhail Shapiro, Derek Parry, Kim Torres and Tom Fuchs. Greenberg’s two original songs were titled “You Don’t Even Know Me” and “Fool Out of Anyone.”

Shapiro, a junior majoring in electrical engineering, won the contest last year. He commented on this year’s contest in verse:

“I thank the Late Nite Show Down Board/and all that came along/to Showdown, for the guitar chords/and cover TV songs,” Shapiro said.

This being the 12th consecutive year of the competition, Late Nite definitely knows what it’s doing. The show provided free food and drinks. In between the acts, games entertained the audience. People came on stage and told their favorite pickup lines or improvised a 30-second song based on a word given to them by the judges. They made sure to keep the energy uplifting and exciting throughout the night.

Held in the Undergrounds Coffeehouse, the competition was one of the biggest nights of the year for Late Nite, with the lines during both nights winding up the stairs of the Old University Union. Every single couch and chair in the Undergrounds was occupied, and people resorted to sitting on the floor and standing around the stage.

“I had to sit on the floor,” said Brooke Kilmer, a freshman majoring in history. “I couldn’t see the stage, so it was like ‘The Voice,’ where you can’t judge people by their appearances.”

The atmosphere buzzed with excitement, and it was clear that both the audience and the performers were getting into the music. Performers demonstrated aptitude in a wide variety of instruments. Some played the piano, guitar, ukulele or harmonica, just to mention a few. The audience clapped, sang along to some of the more well-known TV show themes and some even took out their cell phones and waved them around like lighters.

“The atmosphere was great. Very energetic and friendly. It was a very nice place to sit and enjoy good music and fun people,” said Tony DeGelorm, a senior majoring in biochemistry. “I enjoyed all the performers. All of them were so excited to be there — it brought a lot of positive energy to the room. They all performed very well.”

Though Greenberg ended up winning, all the performers put on shows worthy of writing home about. Next year, contestants will have to work that much harder to outshine their brilliant predecessors.