Sisters Folk Festival - Dave Carter Memorial Songwriting Contest

An important part of the Sisters Folk Festival (held September 8-10, 2006 in Sisters, Oregon) is a showcase for outstanding but under-recognized performing songwriters.



This year, five finalists will vie for a $750 cash prize as the winner of the Dave Carter Memorial Songwriting Contest at the Sisters Folk Festival. This is a “songwriter’s” contest not a “song” contest. Submit up to three songs, entries will be judged on overall consistency of quality. Five finalists will be selected from those entries and will perform in the Songwriting Contest finals at the Festival on Saturday, September 9th.



The winner will perform a short set to open the Saturday night Festival Main Stage Concert as well as an automatic invitation to the next festival as a paid performer. Finalists will have other performance opportunities at venues around Sisters throughout the weekend festival. Each finalist will also receive two nights’ lodging; meal vouchers and two All Events passes for the festival.



Genres accepted include: Blues, Bluegrass, Folk, Gospel, Country, Rock-A-Billy and Acoustic.



Submissions will be judged for originality and uniqueness; song structure; prosody (fit of words to music); and memorability. Performance will be judged on ability to engage the audience – stage presence and “getting the song across.” We expect the writer to perform in an acoustic format. While accompaniment is appropriate, set-up time is very limited, don’t bring a band.



Please note: You may submit up to three songs for one fee. The first song upload and lyric upload is required; however the other two are optional.