Rules

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Here’s how it works :

Send us your song of 5 minutes or less on a Compact Disc. Please put your name and the song title on each recording. (If you're entering more than one song, you can use one CD for all of them.)

Include a lyric sheet (unless it's an instrumental). If all or part of your song is in a language other than English, please send us a translation as well.

If you're entering by mail, complete one Entry Form for each song, sign and date it, and send us the original.

Or, enter electronically through SonicBids.

Send a check or money order for $25 per song in U.S. or Canadian funds, payable to: The Michigan Songwriters. OR we can bill you in US funds via e-mail after we receive your entry form and CD(s), if you have a working e-mail account and either a major credit card or a Pay Pal account.

Mail entries to:
The Michigan Songwriters
3588 Plymouth Rd. #368
Ann Arbor, MI 48105 USA

We'll send you confirmation within two weeks of receiving your entry, either by e-mail (preferred) or US mail (if you include a stamped, self-addressed envelope).

Entries must be postmarked on or before Saturday, May 3, 2008.

Here's what you could win (and other stuff):

The Grand Prize winner will be awarded $2,000 cash in US funds! He or she will also get to attend a three-day workshop at the Lamb's Retreat for Songwriters in November 2008. We pay the tuition, room and board. And, he or she will be offered the chance to headline the Winners' Concert in February 2009.

There will be 11 prizes awarded in 2008. In addition to the Grand Prize, two first-place winners will each get a $500 gift certificate for Elderly Instruments, the premier mail order music store in the Midwest. Four second-place winners will each get a $200 Elderly Instruments gift certificate, and four third-place winners will each get a $100 Elderly Instruments gift certificate. (All prizes are in US funds.)

Winners will have their photos and bios published on our website. We will also publicize the winners through press releases distributed to major newspapers, magazines, entertainment publications, and entertainment news sites on the internet. We also publicize through at least one paid advertisement in an major entertainment magazine or internet news service. (In 2005, it was Performing Songwriter magazine; in 2006 and 2007, it was The Muse's News, Music Industry News - mi2n.com, and PRweb.com.)

All rights to songs will remain with the entrants, whether they win or not. We will not broadcast, record, or in any way duplicate your song without a separate, signed agreement from you.

The Grand Prize and First Place winners will also receive a full-year subscription to the Songbridge A&R Pitch Sheet; the Second- and Third-Place winners will receive a 60-day subscription to the Songbridge A&R Pitch Sheet.

And in March, we added some new prizes, thanks to new sponsors Broadjam.com and Indie-Music.com. Now all the songwriters of the 11 winning songs will each get a year free of Broadjam's Primo MoB plan (with free webhosting, on-line music sales and video hosting, and more). And the winners will also get a year-long "Song 3" membership with Indie-Music.com, with all the promotional opportunities offered by this premier on-line music company.

Winners will be offered an opportunity to perform at the annual Winners Concert in February 2009. In past years, the concert has been held at various high-quality listening venues in Michigan. Between three and six winners have been chosen to perform at the concert. Artists are compensated for their performances.

No entrant’s personal information or e-mail address will be disclosed to any outside organization without permission. (We will give contact information to our sponsors for the winners only, so that they can collect their prizes.)

Entrants (or at least one of each song's co-writers) must be current residents of one of the eight states bordering the Great Lakes (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, or New York) or the Province of Ontario, Canada.

Each song must be the original creation of the songwriter or songwriters. (Multiple songwriters are allowed.)

Winners will be asked to submit bios and photos for press releases. Recordings and lyric sheets will not be returned.

There are no separate categories for types of songs. (Nobody likes to be put in a box.) This contest is for songs that include words and music, or instrumentals. Lyrics without music (and five minute drum solos) are discouraged. Each entry will be listened to in its entirety at least twice.

Winners will be chosen by a panel of songwriters and other music industry professionals. The judges' names will not be announced until the winners are announced. Each judge will disqualify him- or herself from judging entrants with whom they have a personal or professional relationship that would compromise their objectivity. All decisions are final.

Songs are judged on the quality of the song, not the quality of the recording, performance or production.

The following persons are ineligible to win: Current and former employees of The Michigan Songwriters, LLC, and their relatives; persons employed by the sponsors between September 1, 2006, and September 1, 2008, and their immediate family members.

A song is ineligible to win again in 2008 if it was a Grand Prize or First, Second, or Third Place winner in the 2004 Metro Detroit Songwriting Contest, the 2005 Michigan Songwriting Contest, or the 2006 or 2007 Great Lakes Songwriting Contests. However, songwriters whose songs have won in these contests are eligible to enter any songs that did not win Grand Prize or First, Second or Third Place. Past honorable mentions or finalist songs can be re-entered.

You don’t have to copyright your songs before sending them, but it’s a good idea. Check out our Links page to go to the United States Copyright Office.

If an entrant’s check bounces, he or she will have to pay the fees the bank charges us for the check.

Winners will be notified on or before October 1, 2008, by e-mail, U.S. mail, and/or phone. If we try all those and still can’t reach you, you’re out of luck. We’ll find somebody else to give your prize to.