SongDoor International Songwriting Contest

About performance: It truly does not matter if you are a good singer or not. It truly does not matter if you have state-of-the-art recording equipment or not. This is a songwriting competition, and it is the song that will be judged, not the performance or the production.

Judging Elements

Each song is ultimately judged on these four elements:

1. Originality: Not an imitation or derivation, but unique in a fresh, interesting way that has your personal stamp on it. Original also means newly-created and not copied or “borrowed” or even sampled, and that goes for music AND lyrics.

2. Melody: Judges will look at the the overall “shape” of the musical themes, as well as the rhythm and the way the song moves. Pointers: do you absentmindedly sing harmony with this melody, even though there are no harmonic parts? Can you remember it after hearing it only a couple of times? Do you find yourself singing it in your head later in the day? If you answered “yes” to those questions, you are in good shape.

3. Composition/Structure: While we’re not necessarily leaning toward favoring a particular style of song, let it be said that this competition is about helping songwriters promote their songs — in whatever style they might be written — in an effort to help them make a living from their writing. That means we look for commercial potential/saleability of the song, too. Pointer: Good structure and “writing to the hook” are always good rules to follow in evaluating a song’s marketability, if that’s what you’re after. Also, long introductions and instrumental solos turn off publishers big-time.

4. Lyrics: Here the judges are looking for flow, story/theme development, rhyming skill, emotional connection and how well the lyrics marry with the music. Pointers: Clever lyrics do not substitute for a good melody, and don’t pen lyrics just so the rhyme will fit. Tell a story; have a beginning, a middle and an end.

Rounds Process

Round One: Each entry is screened by SongDoor Advisory Board members —

a nationwide group of seasoned music industry artists, producers, engineers, songwriters, lyricists and musicians — who listen to every entry, in its entirety.

The scoring is as follows: Each of the four elements above can merit a maximum score of 5 points. After each song is judged, the four elements scores are added together for a Round One Score. The maximum possible points for any song in Round One is 20.

During Round One the song evaluations are also conducted, and each entrant is given a helpful 11-point evaluation (plus personal written comments) on every song entered. Evaluations will be sent via e-mail at the end of the competition.

Round Two — The Board selects 35 songs (the best 5 songs in each category) to send on to the judges in Round Two. (These 35 finalists’ names are posted on the website.) Those songs are assigned to whichever judge’s expertise is best-suited to evaluate that category, and multiple judges will be judging each category. The top-scoring song in each of the seven categories is a Category Winner.

The scoring is as follows: The 5 songs remaining in each category are judged on their own merits, not against each other, as in Round One. The same scoring system in used in Round Two, except that a song has the opportunity to score 25 points on each element, for a possible total of 100. The song with the highest score in each category becomes the Category Winner, and goes on to Round Three.

Round Three: The judges re-evaluate the seven Category Winners against one another to choose the Grand Award Winner. (Yes, the Grand Award Winner is also one of the Category Winners.)

The scoring is as follows: Each element in Round Three can merit a maximum of 25 points, for a possible total of 100 points. The song with the highest score from this round is the Grand Award Winner. In the event of a tie, the judges will decide on a consensus basis which song should be the winner.

We’re very fortunate to have a stellar judging panel again this year. Please click here to learn more about them and their qualifications.


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ENTRY DEADLINE: November 15, 2008 About performance: It truly does not matter if you are a good singer or not. It truly does not matter if you have state-of-the-art recording equipment or not. This is a songwriting competition, and it is the song that will be judged, not the performance or the production. Judging Elements Each song is ultimately judged on these four elements: 1. Originality: Not an imitation or derivation, but unique in a fresh, interesting way that has your personal stamp on it. Original also means newly-created and not copied or “borrowed” or even sampled, and that goes for music AND lyrics. 2. Melody: Judges will look at the the overall “shape” of the musical themes, as well as the rhythm and the way the song moves. Pointers: do you absentmindedly sing harmony with this melody, even though there are no harmonic parts? Can you remember it after hearing it only a couple of times? Do you find yourself singing it in your head later in the day? If you answered “yes” to those questions, you are in good shape. 3. Composition/Structure: While we’re not necessarily leaning toward favoring a particular style of song, let it be said that this competition is about helping songwriters promote their songs — in whatever style they might be written — in an effort to help them make a living from their writing. That means we look for commercial potential/saleability of the song, too. Pointer: Good structure and “writing to the hook” are always good rules to follow in evaluating a song’s marketability, if that’s what you’re after. Also, long introductions and instrumental solos turn off publishers big-time. 4. Lyrics: Here the judges are looking for flow, story/theme development, rhyming skill, emotional connection and how well the lyrics marry with the music. Pointers: Clever lyrics do not substitute for a good melody, and don’t pen lyrics just so the rhyme will fit. Tell a story; have a beginning, a middle and an end. Rounds Process Round One: Each entry is screened by SongDoor Advisory Board members — a nationwide group of seasoned music industry artists, producers, engineers, songwriters, lyricists and musicians — who listen to every entry, in its entirety. The scoring is as follows: Each of the four elements above can merit a maximum score of 5 points. After each song is judged, the four elements scores are added together for a Round One Score. The maximum possible points for any song in Round One is 20. During Round One the song evaluations are also conducted, and each entrant is given a helpful 11-point evaluation (plus personal written comments) on every song entered. Evaluations will be sent via e-mail at the end of the competition. Round Two — The Board selects 35 songs (the best 5 songs in each category) to send on to the judges in Round Two. (These 35 finalists’ names are posted on the website.) Those songs are assigned to whichever judge’s expertise is best-suited to evaluate that category, and multiple judges will be judging each category. The top-scoring song in each of the seven categories is a Category Winner. The scoring is as follows: The 5 songs remaining in each category are judged on their own merits, not against each other, as in Round One. The same scoring system in used in Round Two, except that a song has the opportunity to score 25 points on each element, for a possible total of 100. The song with the highest score in each category becomes the Category Winner, and goes on to Round Three. Round Three: The judges re-evaluate the seven Category Winners against one another to choose the Grand Award Winner. (Yes, the Grand Award Winner is also one of the Category Winners.) The scoring is as follows: Each element in Round Three can merit a maximum of 25 points, for a possible total of 100 points. The song with the highest score from this round is the Grand Award Winner. In the event of a tie, the judges will decide on a consensus basis which song should be the winner. We’re very fortunate to have a stellar judging panel again this year. Please click here to learn more about them and their qualifications.





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