Canadian Radio Star Competition

Canadian Radio Star, the 18^th annual national songwriting competition, is now accepting entries and online submissions from aspiring and proficient songwriters - published or unpublished - across the country.  Sponsored by Astral Radio, and presented in association with Canadian Music Week, the contest offers emerging artists the opportunity to submit their songs for the chance to win thousands worth in music equipment, services and more - including $10,000 in cash.

"Songwriters are at the core of our rich musical heritage," says Rob Braide, Astral Radio. "Their songs define our lives and our landscape.  Through initiatives like Canadian Radio Star, we have the opportunity to discover, empower and promote the stars of tomorrow, while contributing to Canada's vastly thriving music scene."

New to the Canadian Radio Star competition this year, songwriters can submit their songs directly online at www.radiostar.ca to the participating radio station in their area.  Entries are open now until 5pm EST on December 13, 2010 - the contest's close. 

Complete details and contest rules can be found online at www.radiostar.ca.

Songs will be judged by Canadian radio programmers, music publishers, recording industry executives, and successful songwriters.  Regional winners will be declared by the participating radio station in each market, with a combined public and industry vote determining the Grand Prize winner. 

The 2011 Canadian Radio Star will be announced on Saturday, March 12, 2011, during Canadian Music Week (March 9-13, 2011).

"In many ways, this competition offers a launch pad for the careers' of aspiring Canadian songwriters," says Neill Dixon, President of Canadian Music Week. "It opens doors to new possibilities, provides unrivaled exposure, and puts the songwriters' songs directly in front of a commonly unreachable audience.  Astral Radio's dedication to this project is commendable and underscores our mission to develop Canadian talent."

ECHO Songwriting Prize

Vote now for SOCAN's fifth annual ECHO Songwriting Prize

SOCAN has launched the fifth annual ECHO Songwriting Prize, designed to identify what's next and what's best in current Canadian independent music. This prize will honour some of the most innovative and artistic songs created in the past year by emerging songwriters in Canada. The writer(s) of the winning song will receive a $5,000 CDN cash prize.

The five nominated Canadian songs, as selected through a rigorous process by an independent panel of 10 music community tastemakers, are:

• “Albatross” written by Olga Goreas, Kevin Laing, Jace Lasek and Richard White, performed by The Besnard Lakes
• “Celestica” written by Ethan Kath and Alice Glass, performed by Crystal Castles
• “Destroyer” written by Catherine McCandless and Stephen Ramsay, performed by Young Galaxy
• “Hearts Trompet” written by Edo Van Breeman, Bryan Davies, Richard Saul and John Walsh, performed by Brasstronaut
• “Odessa” written by Dan Snaith, performed by Caribou

SOCAN invites you to listen and vote for your favourite song, up until the deadline of September 30, 2010. One lucky voter will win an Epiphone Ultra II Les Paul electric guitar.

May the Muse be with you…

NASA Wake-Up Song Contest

Image via Wikipedia

Would-be songwriters will get a chance at fame by penning a wake-up song for NASA's last space shuttle mission, officials said.

Wake-up songs, beamed up to astronauts when designated sleep periods end, are a longstanding space tradition dating back to the Apollo program.

Traditionally, the wake-up songs are selected by friends and family of the crews, but for the last two scheduled missions, NASA is inviting the public to take part in a "Wake-up Song Contest" to select songs from a list of the Top 40 previous wake-up calls for the penultimate mission or to submit original tunes for consideration for the final shuttle flight, a NASA release said Friday.

The two songs receiving the most votes from the Top 40 list will be played as crew wake-up calls on the final scheduled flight of space shuttle Discovery, set to launch November 1, 2010.

"We're looking forward to hearing which songs the public wants played for us," Mission Commander Steve Lindsey said. "It's going to be a difficult choice, because there have been so many great songs played over the years."

Songwriters have until January 10, 2011, to submit an original tune related to or suggesting human spaceflight for consideration for the final shuttle mission by Endeavour, scheduled for February 26, 2011.

After screening by NASA, selections will be posted online for a public vote beginning February 8, 2011.

May the Muse take you to the heavens… literally…

OCFF - Songs from the Heart Competition

Only a few days left (June 1, 2009 deadline) if you want to enter the Songs from the Heart Songwriting Competition of the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals (OCFF).

This competition highlights the talents of Ontario songwriters and provides an opportunity for the winners to showcase their work to festival presenters at the annual OCFF conference. Overall, one English and one French winner will be selected. In addition, fifteen nominations from the Songs From the Heart competition (not including the winners of the Galaxie Rising Stars of the CBC Award) are put forward by the OCFF to an Ontario Arts Council (OAC) selection panel, for consideration for the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award.

Good luck to those who enter and may the Muse be with you...

Technorati : Songwriting, Songwriting Contests