> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Santa Monica data scientist wins $10,000 Route 66 song contest - URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-data-scientist-wins-10-000-route-66-song-contest/ - Published: 2026-11-10T11:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-10T11:00:01.000Z - Author: Matthew Hall - Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica Santa Monica resident Bart Blackburn, a data scientist who never learned to play an instrument, won the Route 66 Centennial Song Contest and its $10,000 grand prize Thursday. Blackburn wrote the lyrics and melody for the winning song, “I Know the Way,” with music from film and TV composer Nate Morgan, also a Santa Monica resident. “I’m not a professional songwriter by any means, but I’ve always loved music, like so many people out there,” Blackburn told the Daily Press after the ceremony. “I didn’t think we would win, but we did.” Santa Monica Travel & Tourism (SMTT) CEO Misti Kerns, Mayor Caroline Torosis, and Councilmembers Dan Hall, Lana Negrete, Barry Snell and Natalya Zernitskaya presented the check to Blackburn and Morgan at BroadStage. Before the presentation, Lauren Salisbury, SMTT’s Vice President of Communications, interviewed the two on stage about how the song came together. Blackburn told the audience he saw a sign for the contest in the window of Vito’s Pizza, his neighborhood pizza place on Route 66. Blackburn said he started with the feeling of connection the road creates. He read about Dust Bowl migrants who came west in the 1930s looking for opportunity and says he “could relate to that because I, like so many people, like Nate, came to LA 20 years ago, looking for an adventure, looking for my chance.” SMTT plans to bring Blackburn and Morgan into a studio for a professionally produced recording, Kerns said. The public will have to wait to hear the song until the Route 66 Centennial on November 11th. “That’s sort of what Route 66 is all about,” Blackburn told the Daily Press. “You don’t know what you’re gonna find, but you might get lucky and find some amazing things. And that’s what happened to us.” Watch SMDP’s video report on our social media: [https://www.instagram.com/santamonicadailypress](https://www.instagram.com/santamonicadailypress?ref=smdp.com)