Great American Song Contest (2026)

An annual song competition open to songwriters, lyricists and composers anywhere in the world, run by the Songwriters Resource Network. It is deliberately pitched at people still building a career: the contest describes itself as for amateur and semi-pro writers only, and anyone earning more than $10,000 a year in song publishing royalties is not eligible. That single rule keeps the field closer to the level of most entrants than open contests do.

Entry is $40 per song, with a limit of ten songs per writer per year, so a serious campaign here costs real money. The total prize pool is $10,000. Crucially for anyone wary of contest small print, writers keep all rights to their songs, lyrics and compositions — entering does not sign anything away.

Everyone who enters is sent a confirmation and the judging schedule once their song has been processed, so you know when to expect news. The organisers also offer paid song evaluations as a separate service, which is worth understanding as optional rather than part of the entry.

What the site does not publish is the scoring method or who the judges are in any given year, beyond a judges page — so treat the criteria as unstated. Check the current deadline on the official rules page before entering: at the time of writing it still displayed the previous year's date, and the contest runs on an annual cycle with a submission window that closes in late autumn.