2024 Songwriting Competition
CATEGORY 2: BEST YOUTH SONG -
under 18 years on 17 March 2024
Online applications are now open to all artists - amateur, or professional - in any musical style that can be performed acoustically. There is a $20 entry fee, per song. Multiple applications can be submitted.
APPLICATIONS CLOSE - Sunday, 31 December 2023
Once you register, we will be in touch with instructions on how to get your song to us.
The top 3 winners will be invited to perform at the Festival on the main stage in The Basin Triangle - 15, 16, 17 March 2024
First Prize - valued at $300
- Second Prize - Music voucher to the value of $100
- Third Prize - Music voucher to the value of $50
Judging
All songs will be evaluated by a panel of judges nominated by The Basin Music Festival Committee. The judges' decisions will be final.
A minimum of 3 of the judges will listen to and score all the entries. From these scores, a top ten list will be created. The remaining judges will then judge the top ten and the scores of all judges will be used to determine the top three finalists, and the winner. Entrants will receive feedback on their scores and any comments or suggestions from the judges, by email in the weeks after the festival.
Terms and conditions
- Entrants must reside in Victoria Australia
- Songwriters under 18 years of age at the time of the festival may enter songs into either the Youth or Open categories, with permission of their parent or guardian.
- All other songwriters will have their songs entered into the Open category.
- After your entry form has been completed and your entry fee is paid, you will be contacted via email with details on where to send your song file. Entries must be an MP3 audio only file (videos will not be accepted) and an accompanying file with the written lyrics.
- If you have the song writing talent, but not the voice to do it justice, it is not necessary to perform the song yourself to win.
- Recording is to be simple – vocal with one accompanying instrument e.g., guitar or keys. Full production with extra instrumentation or band recordings will not be accepted. This is to ensure the focus is on the song itself and to maintain a level playing field for all entries.
- The song must be original and a length of 3-4 minutes.
- Songwriters may submit more than one entry—a separate entry form and fee are required for each song—but only one category can be won by any entrant.
- Members of The Basin Music Festival Association committee (TBMF committee) are not eligible to enter the Competition.
- Submitted physical media (containing music and text of lyrics) will become the property of The Basin Music Festival Association. Rights and ownership of the content remain with the author(s) according to "The Fine Print" below.
- The entrant(s) must be the original author(s) of the submitted song.
- Recordings and lyrics will be numbered before being submitted to judges so that, where possible, judges should be unaware of their authorship.
- An entrant with multiple entries may only win one of the top three prizes. i.e., if you enter 3 songs and one of them takes 1st prize, the other entries cannot receive 2nd or 3rd prizes. Similarly, an entrant can only win one of the categories, i.e., if an entrant in the youth section scores highest in the open section, they will be awarded the open but not the youth prize.
- Entrants with songs selected in the final 3 of the competition will be invited to arrange for performance of their song at the festival. The performer(s) need not be the songwriter.
Agreement
The contestant(s) and performer(s) agree to allow The Basin Music Festival Association, the right to use the entry recording, or a recording of the song during its performance at the festival, to promote The Basin Music Festival, without the need for payment of any kind. Apart from the use listed above, all rights for the song remain with the song’s author(s).
By entering the Competition, you agree to the conditions herein and confirm:
The song I have submitted is my (“our” in the case of a collaboration) own original composition, and the song meets all the criteria listed above to be eligible for entry in The Basin Music Festival Song Writing Competition.
