Wildflower! Performing Songwriter Contest

For 15 years, the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival has been offering a wide menu of musical treats from nostalgia acts to current, popular acts, as well as nationally known singer/songwriters and local emerging artists. Last year, over 55,000 people enjoyed the 3 day festival of music and art.



The festival is held in Richardson, Texas, which is located just north of Dallas. The festival books 4 stages: two large outdoor stages for national acts; the Acoustic Café for local and emerging acts; and the Singer/Songwriter Stage for nationally known performing songwriters. This year’s festival will be held May 18-20.



One of the long-standing and very popular parts of this festival is the Wildflower! Performing Songwriter Contest, which is held each year on Saturday morning at the beautiful 350-seat Countrywide Theatre in the striking Eisemann Center.



When you submit to the Performing Songwriter Contest, an experienced panel of songwriting/performance screeners will review your submission and select 10 contestants to move on and compete. There will be 3 artists presented with $500 cash awards. Even though only 3 of the 10 contestants will receive the $500 cash awards, the contestants say the real value of competing in the contest is the opportunity to share songs with the other contestants, as well as get to know and share songs with the nationally known performers.



The contest is a performing songwriting contest. The entries will be judged based on the quality of the songs and the artist’s presentation of the songs.



The following genres are appropriate for this venue: Acoustic, Folk, Singer/Songwriter, Country, Blues, Americana, Bluegrass, and Celtic.



The Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival provides lodging for all contestants for the Friday of the Festival, as well as supplying the contestants with tickets to the festival, festival tee shirts, transportation, access to the Green Rooms for food and drink, an opportunity to perform on the Acoustic Café and sell CD’s, invitation to after-festival celebrations, as well as provide a complementary breakfast on the morning of the contest.



Ruthie Foster and Dave Carter are past entrants in the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival Performing Songwriter Contest.



Sponsors of the Festival include ViewPoint Bank, American Airlines, Texans Credit Union, Richardson Regional Medical Center, Nortel, Bud Light, Countrywide, City of Richardson, North Texas Tollway Authority, KERA, Interstate Batteries, and many more. The retention rate for sponsors returning each year is currently 90%, which speaks well of the event.



The Singer/Songwriter Venue partners with the Dallas Songwriters Association, Kerrville Folk Festival, Uncle Calvin’s Coffeehouse, and 20 non-commercial venues that offer original music in Texas to produce the event.

Please note: Songs that have been previously recorded and released on a label and not owned by the artist are not eligible for this contest.