Entering a songwriting competition can be beneficial in many ways. If you’re a beginner, you’ll get unprecedented exposure while observing and sharing experiences with other like-minded artists, and you might receive a monetary prize or record label deal if you’re successful.

A songwriter contest is also an opportunity to understand how we can improve our skills, what people like about our artistry, and what needs to be refined, and receive constructive feedback that’ll help us grow.

There are plenty of songwriter contests out there these days, so this article is dedicated to the ones I think will give you more chances to learn and expand your audience.

Let’s dive in!

The American Songwriter Contest

The first songwriting contest on the list is the American Songwriter Contest. This competition is divided into the Song Contest and the Lyric Contest. They’re both open to international participants, but they have different rules and prizes. For the purpose of the article, it’s worth treating them as separate competitions.

1. Lyric Contest

If you only write lyrics and don’t want to accompany them with music, you can submit your lyrics to the American Songwriter Lyrics contest. It has been going on for almost 40 years, helping aspiring lyricists master their skills and skyrocket their careers.

The American Songwriter Lyric contest is held bi-monthly, giving you six opportunities to enter the competition every year.

The cost for entry is $15 per song, and you can submit multiple entries for $15 each. The submission process is straightforward: fill out the submission form with your email address, full name, and contact number. Next, add your song details, including the title, the lyrics (copy and paste them in the form), and the co-writer if necessary. Then pay for your entries, and you’re done!

The prizes in 2023 were the following:

  • A feature in the American Songwriter magazine.
  • Admission to the “Songwriting Intensive” workshop with Grammy-nominated songwriter/producer Bonnie Baker.
  • A brand-new Gibson G-45 acoustic guitar.
  • AKG P220 condenser microphone.
  • A one-year SongCraft membership.
  • One year of access to the Music Roar Coach program with Lance Carpenter.

Additionally, there’s a grand prize for one of the six bi-monthly winners, which includes co-writing with a hit songwriter, a full-band demo recording session at OmniSound Studios, one coaching session with Lance Carpenter and Bonnie Baker, and more.

Also, the top four winner’s lyrics will be featured in the American Songwriter Magazine, plus ten honorable mentions. It’s an excellent opportunity for people in the industry to read about you.

Last year’s judges included songwriters such as Pam Sheyne, Shelly Peiken, Dave Bassett, Sarah Siskind, and Judy Stakee, with more to be announced later.

2. Song Contest

American Songwriter’s yearly song contest allows songwriters to submit their lyrics and music compositions. It’s divided into ten categories: Americana, Blues, Christian, Country, Folk/Singer-Songwriter, Hip-Hop/Rap, Indie, Pop, Rock, and Teen.

You’re free to submit as many songs as you like in any category paying a $25 fee for each song you submit. The only requirement is that your songs are original compositions and all authors are properly credited.

To submit your songs, complete the form with your full name and contact information. You must submit your pieces via public URL links hosted on any platform like SoundCloud or YouTube.

Copy and paste the link in the submission form, add the song title, co-authors, and select the category. American Songwriter won’t accept applications with audio files in MP3: you’ll need to upload them first to an online platform.

Your song doesn’t have to be recorded or mastered professionally because it’ll be evaluated based on the lyrics and melody, not on recording quality.

Among the judges for 2023’s song contests were Tommy Lee, Julia Michaels, Jelly Roll, and Natalie Grant, among others.

The grand prize includes:

  • $10,000 in cash.
  • Career Consultation with Major Label A&R Executive.
  • A full 2-page in the American Songwriter magazine.
  • A Gibson G-45 acoustic guitar.
  • Global distribution and promotion for your song.
  • A lifetime American Songwriter membership.

The American Songwriters Song Contest 2024’s deadline to submit your work is December 9, 2024, at 11:59 (CST).

3. Great American Song Contest

The Great American Song Contest was created by songwriters for songwriters, lyricists, and composers worldwide. This competition differs from other contests because it “rewards” every contestant: each participant will receive a written evaluation from the judges involved, which can be priceless if you want to get valuable feedback from worldwide-known artists. Because of this, the competition is only open to 5,000 participants.

The song contest is only for amateur and semi-professional songwriters who earn less than $10,000 annually from song publishing royalties. You can submit up to 10 songs per category for a $35 fee for each piece.

You can submit your songs via email or through the submission form. Upload your song in an MP3 audio file, ensuring it’s less than 10MB. Add your contact information and wait for the confirmation.

Songs are judged based on lyrics’ engagement, creativity, and memorable melodies. In the specific case of the only-lyrics category, they’re also judged by how easy it is to adapt original music to them. For this year’s competition, some of the scheduled judges are Pat Pattison, Robin Frederick, Pamela Phillips-Oland, and David Zeman.

Besides the personal review, the Great American Song Contest offers prizes for the winner of each category and a grand prize for one lucky winner. The grand prize includes:

  • $2,500 in cash
  • 1-year platinum membership to SongU.com.
  • A standard demo recording package from Pearl Snap Studios.
  • Complete mastering services for one song from Sage Audio.
  • $200 in services from CD Baby.
  • The Songwriter’s Guide to Recording Professional Demos
  • And more.

For each category winner, the prizes are:

  • $500 in cash.
  • 6-month platinum membership to SongU.com
  • The Indie Bible digital booklet.
  • 1-year membership from Broadjam.
  • A free download of “Songwriter’s Guide to Recording Professional Demos.”

In the lyrics category, the winner will receive $1000 in cash, a whole song demo production from YourSongmaker, the book “The Art of Writing Great Lyrics” by Grammy-nominated lyricist Pamela Phillips Oland, and six-month Platinum membership to SongU.com.

4. International Songwriting Competition

This annual song contest is open to amateurs and professional songwriters from any country. The International Songwriting Competition (ISC) provides the opportunity to experience the songwriting competition and get your songs heard and analyzed by prestigious judges with extensive experience in the music industry.

The ISC has one of the most illustrious judge panels of all competitions. This year your music could be judged by Mariah Carey, Coldplay, Tom Waits, Gloria Estefan, and many more. You can read the complete judge list here.

In the ISC, you can participate in more than 20 categories, submitting multiple songs for each category or one piece in multiple categories. Your entries will be judged on creativity, originality, lyrics (except for the instrumental-only category), melody (except for only the lyrics category), and arrangement.

Submit your songs via email or online. Upload them in MP3 format or provide a public link to a streaming platform. For the lyrics-only category, you must enter the lyrics in the form. You can write in a different language and provide an English translation. The regular fee per entry is $30 per song until September 20. There’s an early bird deadline on June 26 for $25 and an extended deadline of $35 per entry until November 1.

Prizes include $25,000 in cash for the Grand Prize winner and subscriptions, memberships, and audio gear that’ll dramatically improve your workflow.

5. The USA Songwriting Competition

The USA Songwriting Competition is an international song contest open to all songwriters regardless of experience and nationality. Judges include record labels, publishers, A&R, and producers from Universal Music, Warner, and Sony Music. This competition can put your name in front of the right people in the industry.

Songs are submitted online in an MP3 of max 10MB in size or a link on YouTube, Soundcloud, or ReverbNation. Submit as many songs as you want into multiple categories for a $35 fee for each entry. The lyric-only category does not require an audio format and can be in any language.

The prizes that the USA Songwriting Competition offers are the following:

  • The grand prize winner receives over $50,000 in merchandise, cash & more from sponsors.
  • The second prize is $9,000 worth of merchandise.
  • The third prize is $6,500 worth of merchandise.
  • First place for each category will receive $2,200 worth of merchandise.
  • 20 Honorable Mention winners will receive $350 worth of merchandise.

6. The John Lennon Songwriting Contest

International songwriters of all skill levels can enter the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. It was created to provide songwriters with a platform for artistic expression and visibility, and the competition is divided into twelve categories, including Rock, Pop, Hip-Hop, Country, Jazz, R&B, Folk, World, and Latin music.

To enter the contest, you’ll need to fill out the application, upload a five-minute song or less in MP3 or AAC format of 12MB or less, the lyric sheets, and pay the $30 fee per song before the deadline for each session. You can enter the contest twice a year: in 2024, from February 15 to June 30, and from July 1 to December 31.

Winners will be chosen based on originality, lyrics, melody, and composition. Judges include music industry legends, such as Prince Royce, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, George Clinton, and Lita Ford.

The Song of the Year winner will get the following:

  • $20,000 in cash.
  • An Apogee Symphony Desktop.
  • An SSL UF8.
  • More prizes from sponsors.

Each category winner receives a K&M 26720 monitor stand and sponsor prizes. Seventy-two finalists will also receive awards from the sponsor, such as plugins from Apogee, Universal Audio, SSL, and Avid Pro Tools memberships.

7. SongDoor International Songwriting Competition

The SongDoor competition is open worldwide for songwriters aged 16 and older and to both amateurs and pros. It aims to help people become better songwriters and to get their music heard by influential industry people, record labels, publishers, and producers.

The SongDoor competition is one of the most affordable, with only a $15 fee per entry. Submit as many songs as you want in their six categories. The primary requisite is that your piece should be written or co-written by you.

Songs are judged by originality, melody, lyrics, structure, and composition, scoring from one to five for each category. Your entries will go through three rounds, where professionals evaluate them in their field of expertise. SongDoor 2023’s judges were Steve Avedis, Bill Shore, Joe Beck, Jason Blume, Nancy Moran, and Dennis Winters.

The prizes:

  • The Grand Award winner will receive $5,291.80 worth of merchandise and services from sponsors.
  • Each Category Winner will receive a total worth of $1,356.95 from merchandise from sponsors.
  • All contestants will receive three songwriting tools by the end of the contest: a 45-day all-access trial of SongU.com, free Broadjam Film & TV membership, and a series of free songwriters’ e-books to help you scale up your songwriting career.

8. International Songwriting Competition

The International Songwriting Competition is an annual contest that allows aspiring songwriters to have their music heard by industry giants. To give you an idea, judges from last year included Mariah Carey, Tom Waits, and Joe Hahn from Linkin Park.

Every year, they choose 74 winners who will receive cash prizes and other rewards, including:

  • $25,000.00 (US) in cash to fund your music projects.
  • Album mastering from Lurssen Mastering, the world-renowned mastering studio.
  • A PR/Marketing release strategy and general brand audit from PressedFresh Collective, a top-tier media agency.
  • A KeyLab MkII 88 and the V-Collection 9 Software Plug-in Bundle from Arturia.
  • A $400 gift certificate to Sweetwater.

Categories include everything from Adult Album Alternative (AAA) to World Music – so no matter what your genre, there is a category for you. They also have a considerable number of winners from overseas (about 50%), so if you’re from outside the US, the ISC might be the right contest for you.

Participants can submit as many songs as they wish for $25 each, in the same category or in multiple categories. The deadline for the early-bird submission is July 2, 2024

Final thoughts on songwriting competitions

I hope this guide showed you the importance of and opportunities offered by the best songwriting competitions out there.

It may be the right time to polish all those songs saved on your hard drive and submit them. Many hidden gems could be waiting to be discovered by experienced judges and songwriters.

Good luck!