April 2008

Welcome, songwriter!

We've extended the deadline for entries! Nowyou have until Saturday, May 3, to get your entry postmarked.

This is our fifth year of organizing these songwriting contests, and we're celebrating by lowering the entry fee and raising the Grand Prize.

We've teamed up with SonicBids for the first time, so it's now possible to enter the contest without waiting in line at the post office. And there's no additional fee, either.

The Winners' Concert on February 16 was a big success. Performers always love Trinity House! We've already booked it for February 2009, for the 2008 winners, whoever they are. Maybe one of them is reading this right now!

For newcomers, here’s a bit of background:

In 2003, a group of Detroit-area songwriters took on the mission of promoting the great original music from our area of the world. We went from hosting a local contest to hosting a statewide contest, and finally to organizing the Great Lakes Songwriting Contest. And that's as big as we want to get.

Our contest is limited to songwriters currently living in the Province of Ontario or one of the eight states bordering the Great Lakes . (That’s Minnesota , Wisconsin , Illinois , Indiana , Ohio , Michigan , Pennsylvania , and New York .) Most of our entries still come from Michigan , where the songwriters know us best, but the word is spreading throughout the region.

The Great Lakes Songwriting Contest welcomes all types of music. Country, rock, Christian and Gospel, blues, hip-hop, folk, instrumental, and all the hybrids. We don’t make you pick a category when you enter your songs. (No one likes to be put in a box, and no one wants to have to enter each song in multiple categories, for multiple fees!) A great song is a great song, regardless of the genre.

In the past, the winning songs have been about a wide variety of topics: Love lost and love won, angels, politics, mechanical hands, and we're-not-sure-what. There have been story songs, happy songs, sad songs, angry rants, and instrumentals.

We, the Michigan Songwriters, are dedicated to running a fair, unbiased contest in which each song is judged on its own merits, whether you’re a well-known songwriter or a talented amateur who’s never performed in public. Our judges all have ties to the Great Lakes region, and are chosen with musical diversity and experience in mind.

Here's what some of the past winners have said about the contest:

“I really appreciated how much the Michigan Songwriters worked to get the winners exposure through press, radio, etc. It's also nice to know how much they believe in and support independent artists in the Great Lakes region." - Rachanee, 2006 Winner

“Winning has given me a lot of confidence and many opportunities that I otherwise may never have realized… The experience has really energized and inspired me musically. I owe a big ‘Thank You’ to the entire contest organization, all of the judges and everyone involved.” - John Latini, 2004 Winner

“ The contest was beautifully run. The prizes were meaningful. The publicity you generated was wonderful. The winner's concert was fantastic. You treat songwriters like royalty." - Bruce Holmes, 2006 Winner

We joined the Better Business Bureau in 2004 and are pleased to report that we have a perfect record, with no consumer complaints.

So, browse our website to learn more about past winners, judges, and related links. And if you write original music, we’d love to hear it.

- The Michigan Songwriters