Susan Sweeney and her musical family value the power of song, and designed the Write4Kids Song Competition to reach out to and empower our many American working poor families. Susan has “Been There”; she was once a single parent raising three children on just $25,000/year gross income as a Graphic Designer. She knows the daunting mountains of paperwork and red tape of our social service system -- each year in Florida alone, more than $2 Billion from programs created to help working poor familie...
Susan Sweeney and her musical family value the power of song, and designed the Write4Kids Song Competition to reach out to and empower our many American working poor families. Susan has “Been There”; she was once a single parent raising three children on just $25,000/year gross income as a Graphic Designer. She knows the daunting mountains of paperwork and red tape of our social service system -- each year in Florida alone, more than $2 Billion from programs created to help working poor families does not reach them. Susan founded SupportKidsNOW, a 501c3 nonprofit organization to help families efficiently and effectively find and access these nonprofit & Gov't Agency program benefits. Proceeds from this Competition go to SupportKidsNOW.
All Competition entries must be on the topics of inspiring/empowering songs of rising our of poverty, overcoming adversity, what it's like to live in poverty, families or children in financial distress, kids abandoned or kids empowered, written and/or co-written, recorded and performed by the entrant. Entrants ages 12 to 112 in the categories of Singer/Songwriter, acoustic, blues, indie, folk, Americana, pop, rock, celtic, Contemporary Christian & associated genres are accepted.
Submissions will be judged by George Gehring, whose songs have been recorded by Elvis, Sarah Vaughn and Barbara Streisand; Bill Meredith, professional drummer, vocalist, percussionist and music journalist whose writing credits include the Palm Beach Post, within which his TGIF local music column has run for the past nine years; Anthony Salari, a 24 year old Las Vegas singer-songwriter who, among his many other credits, has secured licensing for all songs off his HateLove EP with popular television shows including MTV’s Real World, Road Rules as well as Oxygen’s “Bad Girls Club” and E! Entertainment’s “Keeping up with the Kardashians;” and Bob Singer, widely and highly regarded music industry professional whose many accomplishments include the Singer House Concert Series, which has been used as a nation-wide example on promotion of successful concert series, and Singer Music Productions featuring such acts as The Chad Mitchell Trio, Michael Johnson (Bluer Than Blue), and the Limeliters.
Cash award of $500 to Adult Category First Place Winner and also free Vocal Coaching Sessions (in Tamarac, FL), ability to sell Artist’s CD at full price at Event, home hospitality for up to two people for up to two nights in Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach, Florida to attend/perform at Awards Event, and press coverage; (see Write4KidsSongComp.org for complete list of prizes and rules for entry).
The Youth Category First Place Winner receive free Vocal Coaching Sessions (in Tamarac, FL), free Intermediate Level Guitar Lessons (near Tamarac, FL), three hours recording time at Shack in the Back recording studio, home hospitality for up to four people for one night in Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach, Florida to attend/perform at Awards Event and press coverage. Top 20 Youth entrants (ages 12-21) will receive a critique of their song from Celebrity Judge George Gehring.
Youth Category Second Place Winner will receive Cash Prize of $75 and other prizes; Youth Category Third Place Winner will receive Cash Prize of $50, and other prizes. All winners receive some free guest passes to Awards Event.
Entries will be judged by a panel of music industry professionals on originality, melody and lyrics. Sponsors of this 1st Annual Write4Kids Song Competition include: Mary Huddleston Vocal Studio, ShackInTheBack Recording Studio, Singer Web Designs, DesignWorkShopGroup, Discount Pool & Patio, Law Office of Russell M Thompson, Simplex Design Casework, The Better Resume, The Press Room Printing, and Virtual June LLC Virtual Assistants.