Sorry, we are no longer accepting submissions
for the 2018 Songwriting Competition.
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2017 Songwriting Competition Winners

1st: Evan Khay "Bring you Back"

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2nd:  Nowelo "Leave Me"

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3rd:  Hummingbird Hotel "Perfect"​

Songwriting Competition Details

Registered attendees may submit one (1) song to the Hawai'i Songwriting Festival songwriting competition. Please follow the instructions below.
**This event is held in conjunction with the Hawai'i Songwriting Festival and is entirely optional.

Quality recordings are appreciated, but the entries are judged on the songwriting, not the recording, performance, or presentation of the song. Rough demos are acceptable. 

Six finalists will be chosen and announced at the opening ceremony on the first day of the conference (July 19). They will each perform their song that evening for all the attendees, and a panel of judges (selected staff members) will choose 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.  In addition to receiving various prizes from our sponsors, the winners will perform one song each in the Hit Makers concert on Saturday night (July 21).

After reading the rules below, email your entry (with a lyric sheet) to info@hawaiisongwritingfestival.com with "2018 Contest Entry" as the subject line.  Alternatively, you may direct us to a link on SoundCloud, BandCamp, etc.  Also, be sure to send a PDF, Word, or Text file of your lyric sheet.  DEADLINE is 11:59PM HST on Sunday, July 15.  

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Important information and rules:

1. To submit your song, you must first be registered to attend the Hawai'i Songwriting Festival. Entries from people who have not registered to attend will not be considered.  
2. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners from 2017 cannot enter again in 2018, but all other previous finalists and winners can enter this year.
3. All entries must be accompanied by a lyric sheet.
4. For the purposes of the competition, a song must have both lyrics and music.
5. All songs must be original, unpublished songs that have been written or co-written by the entrant(s). For competition purposes, unpublished means not published by a major music publishing organization.
6. Only amateur songwriters (including co-writers) are allowed to submit entries to the competition. For competition purposes, amateur is defined as anyone who has never had any song they wrote appear on any of the Billboard charts.
7. Prizes for the Songwriting Competition will be announced at the event.  (For reference, Past prizes have included various acoustic and electric guitars and recording equipment.)