23rd Annual Mid-Atlantic Song Contest

From the Songwriters' Association of Washington comes the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, one of the longest-running contests in the nation. The competition is designed to afford rising songwriters in a wide variety of genres the opportunity to receive awards and exposure in an environment of peer competition. Amateur status required. Reduced entry fees are offered to members of Songwriters' Association of Washington.



The contest categories are:

Gospel/Inspirational

R&B/Rap/HipHop/Dance/Urban/Go-Go

Folk/Acoustic

Adult Contemporary/Soft Rock

Rock/Alternative

Pop

Country/Bluegrass

Jazz/Blues (Vocal)

Children’s

Open (novelty, seasonal, theater, world, latin, reggae, all others not listed above)

NEW THIS YEAR:

WORLD MUSIC

CELTIC/NEW AGE

INSTRUMENTAL (Music without vocals, all genres--please submit 3 sentence description in place of "lyrics" when you enter the contest)



The Grand Prize and Second and Third Place Overall winners are determined by a panel of music industry professionals specifically selected for the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest by SAW’s Board of Directors. All judging is done by a panel of a minimum of three judges: This is a blind listening - no judges have access to entrants information except the Contest Director & Assistant Director.



The best song in each category (Gold) is eligible for three grand cash prizes:

Grand Prize: $1000 cash

2nd Place Overall: $500

3rd Place Overall: $250 cash

All three top prize winners win free SAW and TAXI memberships.



The top song in ten of the categories wins CD mastering from Omega Studios and the top two songs in each category each win Songwriter’s Market books and Sonicbids memberships.



The contest's corporate sponsors are: Sonicbids, Oasis CD Manufacturing, Omega Recording Studios, Mary Cliff, Songwriter’s Market, TAXI, Victor and Reba Heyman.



There is a $200 cash Young Artist Prize for entrants age 21 and younger as of June 30, 2006, which will be awarded to the top song from any category. Songs submitted for Young Artist Prize consideration will also be put back into their respective categories for regular judging, and will be eligible for all contest prizes.



Lyrics must be submitted with each entry (or 3 sentence description for instrumentals)



There is a special new member rate to join SAW ($25) if you enter the song contest (see the SAW web site for details). Also offered are progressive bundle discounts for 5 or more entries. Purchase your membership online or mail or in your membership check to SAW by June 30th and you qualify for member rates (a serious reduction!)



Judge feedback is free for all online entries. If a song is deemed to be in the wrong category by 2 out of 3 judges, no critique of the song will take place, UNLESS it is applicable to one of the new categories and then it will automatically be placed in that genre but the entrant will be notified that the entry was not considered to have been entered in the proper category.



Winning songwriters are invited to perform in Washington, DC at the Awards Ceremony Gala in November/December and twenty of the winning songs are included on a compilation CD. Please note that due to technical limitations new category winners might not appear on compilation CD. Certificates are awarded to other entries meriting finalist and honorable mention status.



Please note: You must be a SAW member to submit using the SAW member discount package. Your entries are subject to disqualification if you are not a member and submit using the incorrect package.