Three members of the Sunshine House are one of five finalists in Folgers Jingle Contest

​You know what the best part of waking up is? For Jered Lish, Zac Crider and Chris Stuberg of the Sunshine House (due at this year's Westword Music Showcase), we're betting it was waking up to find that they're one of five finalists in the Folgers Jingle Contest. Although, curiously, for whatever reason, only one of them is listed as a finalist -- "Jered L. from Ft. Collins" is how the coffee company has it listed on its site -- the three actually collaborated on the track, with Lish writing the melody, Crider writing the lyrics and Stuberg playing cello.

Not that we're jingle connoisseurs, by any means, but we do know music and we drink our share of coffee, both of which seem to qualify us to offer up our expert opinion. After listening to the contributions of all of the other contenders...well, as much as we'd like to say that the Sunshine House dudes have this thing on lock, the truth is, they're facing some pretty stiff competition. All of the submissions are pretty good in their own sort of way -- though some do scream Starbucks more than Folgers. We're, of course, partial to Lish and company, so in a tie-breaker, they'd get our vote. Regardless, we're really glad we're not the ones picking the grand-prize winner.

That unenviable task belongs to Kara DioGuardi. The former American Idol judge and current senior vice president of A&R at Warner Bros. will not only decide who wins the grand prize -- she's *part* of the grand prize. At stake: $25,000, plus a mentoring session with DioGuardi and a chance to appear in a Folgers commercial.

Fortunately, the task has been made infinitely easier thanks to the folks at Folgers, who sorted through thousands of entries themselves, and then, after narrowing it down to ten contenders, were wise enough to enlist the input of America, who helped pick the top five. Now those five finalists are headed to New York, where they'll perform at a live audition in Times Square outside the Good Morning America studio, on Thursday, June 16, in front DioGuardi.

Check out the Sunshine House guys below, then make your way to bestpartofwakingup.com to see the other contestants they'll be up against.

On a semi-related note: This commercial bid sort of serves as Crider's swan song Stuberg's introduction to the band. The guitarist is leaving to study music at a school in Florida. Stuberg, meanwhile, will become the group's new cellist later this summer.