Haven – Country music crooner Penny Cavendish was crowned winner of the 2026 Sanctarian Song Contest tonight with over 63% of the vote after wowing the voting public with her power ballad Love Can’t Make Me Do That. Cavendish (63), who represented Terra Monticolarum in tonight’s contest, and has been a known force in Sanctarian folk and country music for the last forty years, proved her vocal talents could cross genres for mass market appeal.
The Sanctarian Song Contest, which takes place over 10 weeks, showcases artists from across the Sanctarian states in a live, televote contest. Each state has its own televised final once a week for nine weeks until the grand final brings all nine finalists together for live performances. This was the fifth edition of the song contest, and Terra Monticolarum’s first time winning.
Cavendish’s winning performance, which featured pyrotechnics, moving stages, and scantily clad male backing dancers, was the bookies’ favourite when voting opened, and never lost its lead. Love Can’t Make Me Do That was written by Cavendish’s long-time collaborator and song writer Jackson Müller, and is a pop-rock power ballad, a far cry from her usual country jives and a nod to the more modern tastes of Sanctarian audiences. Speaking after her win tonight, Cavendish promised to not just release the song as a single, which has become the tradition for Contest winners, but also to go to the studio and record more original music, as well as some covers, in the same or similar genres. “I want to do more of this. Maybe even go into jazz or swing. I love that music myself and I’d like to bring my audience with me”, she gushed in her first interview after her win was announced.
With Terra Monticolarum’s entrant winning this year, it means Cristi will be host to the contest’s Grand Finale next September. Will Cavendish make an appearance? “Well I’ll never say never! But hopefully I’ll be out touring my new music. I might make a special appearance at the interval, what do you think?”
LEE JONES, Entertainment Correspondent
