Celebrating its 17th year as part of the Wildflower! Arts & Music Festival, the Performing Songwriter Contest for emerging artists will once again offer four grand prizes of $500 each to the top songwriters. Ten finalists will be chosen to compete for these prizes on stage in the critically acclaimed Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson, Texas during the award winning Wildflower! Festival. Enter up to three times before the deadline of March 6>...
Celebrating its 17th year as part of the Wildflower! Arts & Music Festival, the Performing Songwriter Contest for emerging artists will once again offer four grand prizes of $500 each to the top songwriters. Ten finalists will be chosen to compete for these prizes on stage in the critically acclaimed Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson, Texas during the award winning Wildflower! Festival. Enter up to three times before the deadline of March 6, 2013. (See comments below from previous contest finalists.)
Entrants Will Be Competing For:
- Four (4) $500 cash awards (including one for the title of “Michael Terry People’s Choice” Award – from audience judging).
- Opportunity of a lifetime to spend a weekend sharing songs with some of the best performing songwriters in the nation.
- An invitation to perform on the Courtyard Stage for recognition and CDs sales (top 20 entrants).
- Winners will be featured in a “spotlight round” on Sunday afternoon, May 19.
Help with Expenses:
- Lodging for May 17 and 18, 2013.
- Festival passes.
- Access to the Green Room for the top 10 finalists on May 18 and 19, 2013.
- The finalists must provide his or her own transportation to Richardson, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.
Contest Rules:
- There is a limit of 3 entries per person. (An entry is 2 songs.)
- Open to males and females 18 years of age and older.
- A maximum of 300 entries will be accepted on a first submitted basis.
- Recordings submitted must be representative of the artist’s live performance. The screeners prefer recordings that use one instrument, the songwriter’s vocal and no backup harmonies; however, produced recordings are accepted. No instrumentals allowed.
- Co-written songs may be submitted; however, only one of the writers may submit an application and perform the song on the recording.
- Artist’s name, biographical information, or credits should not be included on the recordings.
- The submission of the entry certifies that the songwriter has all rights to the songs and that the songs have not been sold or contractually assigned to another entity.
- Songs that have been previously recorded and released under contract on a label are not eligible.
- Songs must have been written within the last two years (after December 2010).
- Each song may not exceed 5 minutes.
- Performances at the contest are limited to one songwriter/vocalist who must perform the songs submitted in the contest. The vocalist can provide instrumentation or have a single accompanist (with no backup harmony or effects).
- Each finalist must be at Wildflower! on the day of the contest, Saturday, May 18, 2013 and be available to play a set in the round on Sunday, May 19, 2013 if selected as one of the winners.
- Prior to the contest, finalists may not appear on stage at the Festival with any artist(s) booked for the Festival.
- Notification to the 10 finalists will be made on or before April 15, 2013.
- All previous finalists and winners are invited to submit with the exception of the 2011 winners and the 2012 finalists. The 2011 winners cannot enter again until 2014. The 2012 non-winning finalists cannot enter again until 2014 and the 2012 winners cannot enter until 2015.
Fair Screening Process:
- All entries are subjected to a blind and independent screening by several experienced music promoters, songwriters and educators familiar with original songwriting and performing techniques.
- The screeners come to a consensus by independent voting and select 10 of the entrants to compete at the festival on Saturday morning, May 18, 2013.
- The contest is a performing songwriting contest. The entries will be judged based on the quality of their songs (50%) and the artist’s presentation of their songs (50%).
Last year, three of the four winners were Sonicbids artists: Connor Garvey, Nicolette Good and Robyn Landis. Similarly, three of the six remaining finalists were also Sonicbids artists.
About the Festival:
Celebrating its 21th year in 2013, the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival has produced a feast of musical treats from nostalgia acts, current popular acts, nationally known singer/songwriters, and local/emerging artists. With five stages of entertainment to choose from in 2012, over 60,000 people enjoyed the 3-day event of music and art. One of the most popular features of the festival is the Performing Songwriter Contest. Wildflower! partners with Uncle Calvin’s Coffeehouse, the Dallas Songwriters Association, the Kerrville Folk Festival and 30 non-commercial venues/coffeehouses that offer original music in Texas to produce the singer songwriter stage. Many of these promoters/presenters attend the festival and book artists they see in the contest, in the hotel song swaps and on the stages.
Comments from Past Contest Finalists:
“Thank you for all that you did both before and during the Wildflower festival for us. We had an incredible time, and I've been telling all of my songwriter friends to enter next year (and I hope they do). Mike and I are still talking about it. Y’all folks in Texas really know how to treat musicians.” - MaryBeth Zamer, 2012 Michael Terry People’s Choice Award
“I wanted to thank you for the wonderful time I had at the Wildflower Festival this year. I was truly impressed with how well the festival was run, how pampered I was as a guest, and mostly how great all of the people were who were associated with the festival.” - Connor Garvey, 2012 Winner
“The Wildflower folks sure know how to throw a party! My experience was fantastic. Every detail was taken care of. From the accommodations and volunteers, to the beautiful theater and appreciative audiences. I loved how they made everyone feel welcome and special, like a folk star!
Thank you Wildflower!” - Rj Cowdery, 2011 Winner
“The Singer/songwriter festival is a great way for emerging artists to get their names out there and be heard by people who can help their careers grow. You can tell that they take the competition there seriously, the prizes are really good, and they take good care of all the finalists.” – Colin McGrath, 2009 Winner (from Sonicbids)
“Wildflower was the most beautiful and well organized festival I've ever been part of. It is truly an honor to be selected to play on the Wildflower! singer/songwriter stage. It's the real deal and is validating for any songwriter to be asked to play there.” - Terry Holder, 2011 Contest Finalist
“I can't thank you enough for what a great experience the Wildflower! Festival was for me! I've been spreading the word about what a great thing you've got going on up in Richardson!” - Margo Valiante, 2010 Contest Winner