Celebrating its 13th year, the Song Academy’s Young Songwriter competition (SAYS23) has opened its entries, encouraging young people aged 8–18 to apply.
Students are invited to submit an mp3 file of an original song and a document containing its song lyrics. Each entrant can enter up to five songs, and each song costs £10 to submit to cover judging and administrative costs.
The Song Academy offers to invoice schools for pupil entries that they are funding. Further information on this is available online.
The competition is judging the craft of songwriting, so tracks do not need to be recorded on professional equiptment. Submissions will be judged by a professional panel including Fraser T Smith, Plested, Amy Wadge, Jimmy Napes and Calum Scott.
Discussing the competition, songwriter, producer and 2023 judge, Fraser T Smith, says: ‘With so much going on in the world, it’s never been more vital for young people to be able to channel their energy and emotions into something positive, which is what SAYS encourages and facilitates through songwriting. Every young person has something to say, a story to tell, or a message to share – that’s why Song Academy is so important to our community.’
The competition is split into five categories: UK/Ireland ages 8–12, UK/Ireland ages 13–15, UK/Ireland ages 16–18, International ages 8–12 and International ages 13–18.
Song Academy runs regular songwriting programmes for young people, and have blogs and songwriting resources to help students who need guidance. It also has free songwriting resources for teachers, and can run songwriting programmes in schools.
This year’s competition is sponsored by YouTube Music, Soundtrap, Focusrite, Yamaha, ICMP and PRS for Music.
