When Joy Ike performs her songs, she bares a bit of her soul-and her feet.

Last Wednesday at Connections Coffee House in Oakland, she approached her keyboard, sat down, slipped off her shoes and placed her feet on the pedals, playing her way to a spot in the finals in Pittsburgh’s Acoustic Challenge 2008.

“It’s pretty cool; I didn’t really expect to actually be a part of it,” Ike said. “It just happened randomly through a series of events that only happened two days ago, so I’m glad that I entered.”

Oct. 8 was the second round in the Acoustic Challenge, organized by Three Rivers Productions, a Pittsburgh entertainment booking agency. The challenge runs for a total of six weeks, with preliminary judging every Wednesday night in October and a finals night on Nov. 5. Each night local artists, either solo or duo, get 15 minutes to showcase their original music using acoustic instruments only.

The contestants are evaluated by a panel of judges who are all involved in the music industry in some way. An official ballot is used with four categories of judging: originality, stage presence, musicianship and “marketability.”

“I see it as if someone would be interested in them-if a label would be interested in them or enough people,” said judge Frank Cindrich, 42, of Pittsburgh. Cindrich is an overnight DJ at Pittsburgh’s independent radio station, WYEP, and is also a Point Park alum.

After one artist from each preliminary round is picked, they all play in the final round for one of three prizes. First place gets $1,000; second place gets free recording time at Audible Images, a recording studio in the Pittsburgh area; and third place gets a Walden acoustic guitar.

Last week’s performers included Ike, 25, of Pittsburgh, Caleb Lovely, 20, of Ross Township, and Rick Bruening, 56, of New Wilmington. Both Lovely and Bruening played solo sets with an acoustic guitar, while Ike played her keyboard accompanied by a drummer.

“I’ve tried the guitar, but we’re not really friends. It didn’t work out,” Ike joked.