Judges & Judging
  ... plus $10,000 in Prizes!

 

There's more to the Great American Song Contest than great prizes and prestigious awards — that's only the beginning!

Many songwriters enter the Great American Song Contest mostly to get their songs heard and get feedback from knowledgeable music-industry professionals.

That's because the Great American Song Contest offers this unique guarantee: ALL participating songwriters receive written evaluations of their songs from experienced music-industry pros!

The philosophy of the Great American Song Contest is distinctively different from the lottery-style competitions that receive 20,000 to 30,000 entries each year.

Unlike those highly competitive "big cash prize" contests that reward only a few, the Great American Song Contest offers a clear benefit to everyone who enters, and all entrants receive a detailed evaluation from the contest judges. (See List of JUDGES below.)

How Songs Are Judged

Judges base their evaluations on the universal hallmarks of songwriting excellence: Engaging lyrics, creative use of language, effective and memorable melodies, and overall songwriting technique.

Lyric Only entries are judged using the same lyrical criteria — and the Judges evaluate each lyric to see how successfully it can be adapted to music. Lyrics Only info

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Note: Judges focus on the quality of the song - Not the performance or quality of the recording.

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Three Rounds of Judging

Level One — All entries in all categories are judged by helpful and knowledgeable music-industry professionals, each selected for his or her expertise in specific style categories (Pop, Country, Folk, etc...)

Level Two — Judges advance 90 songs (top 10 songs in each songwriting category) to Level Two. Five songs are selected from each category to receive Outstanding Achievement In Songwriting awards. The top song in each category wins a First Place Award and advances to compete for the Grand Prize.

Level Three — Grand Prize Winner of the Great American Song Contest is selected from the First Place category winners!

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Here are just a few of this year's scheduled
Great American Song Contest
Judges!

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Pat Pattison is a professor at Berklee College of Music and one of the world's leading experts on songwriting. His seminars and "songposiums" are popular throughout the U.S. Several of his students have won Grammys, including John Mayer and Gillian Welch. Pat is author of three best-selling books on songwriting and his songs have been recorded by many artists, including Kathy Mattea, Emmy Lou Harris, Alison Krauss and Trisha Yearwood.

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Pete Anderson is a Grammy award-winning producer, record company executive and songwriter. He has worked with artists as diverse as Dwight Yoakam, k.d. Lang, Sheryl Crow, Sara Evans, Lucinda Williams, Michelle Shocked, Roy Orbison, Buck Owens and the Meat Puppets. “Whiskey Town,” the song produced by Anderson, was featured in the Academy award-winning film “Crash.”

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Robin Frederick — Former Director of A&R for Rhino Records, Robin is a producer and recording artist who's written many songs for albums and television. She's also author of the book "Shortcuts To Hit Songwriting," a past-president of Los Angeles Women In Music and co-founder of the Indie Nation Music Conference.

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Pamela Phillips-Oland — One of the music industry's most successful lyricists, Pamela's songs have been recorded by Reba McEntire, Brian Adams, Whitney Houston, Selena and featured on the HBO series "The Sopranos." She's also author of the excellent book "You Can Write Great Lyrics."

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Michael Anderson — This contemporary Christian songwriter and recording artist was nominated for a Dove Award (for "Emmanuel" with Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith). He also wrote "Maybe It Was Memphis," a #1 hit for Pam Tillis.

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Rand Bishop — Rand is a Grammy-nominated, BMI affiliated songwriter with over 200 cuts to his credit — by such artists as Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, David Ball, Heart, Indigo Girls, Cheap Trick, the Beach Boys and Richie Havens. He is also a music publisher, producer and author of Makin' Stuff Up, a fascinating book about his long and successful career as a songwriter.

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John Braheny — Songwriting and music biz consultant/coach, teacher, wrote the best-selling "songwriters bible," The Craft and Business of Songwriting, co-founded the legendary Los Angeles Songwriters Showcase which provided early exposure and encouragement to later-to-be -successful songwriters, including Stevie Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham, Janis Ian, Warren Zevon, Karla Bonoff, Steve Seskin, Steven Bishop, Jason Blume and Diane Warren.

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Dennis R. Sinnott — As London-based director of EMI Music Publishing, this legendary music-industry executive negotiated record deals for Elton John, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Queen, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones. His new book "Masters Of Songwriting" is essential reading for aspiring songwriters.

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Steve Seskin — An award-winning songwriter and recording artist, Steve has written songs for Tim McGraw, Mark Wills, John Michael Montgomery, Kenny Chesney, Collin Raye, Waylon Jennings, Alabama and Neal McCoy. His titles include "Don't Laugh At Me" (CMA "Song of the Year" finalist) "I Think About You" and "Life's A Dance." Steve also teaches educational courses for songwriting-related organizations, including the Kerrville Folk Festival.

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Tim Coons — Original producer of the multi-platinum pop group The Backstreet Boys, Tim is president of Atlantic Hill Music and creator of Sony Recording Artist group 3rd Faze, who toured with Britney Spears. He's also worked with NSYNC, Rob Thomas of Match Box 20, Jefferson Starship, Take 5 and artists with CBS, Sony, Universal, Dream Works, Warner Music Group, BMG, RCA and Disney.

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Chris Keaton — This publishing executive has worked with songwriters Rodney Crowell, Lyle Lovett & Rosanne Cash. Trisha Yearwood, George Strait, Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, George Jones and Cliff Richard have all cut songs represented by Keaton's Nashville-based artist development firm, Chris Keaton Productions.

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Carla Starrett — From London to Paris to New York, Ms. Starrett has written and published arts-related features on poetry, songwriting, music, film and literature. She is currently the Executive Director of SongLyricist.com, an online resource for song lyricists and word poets.

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Brett Perkins — Brett knows the music business. He's led the National Academy of Songwriters and founded the Listening Room International Songwriter Retreats and Copenhagen Songwriters Festival. As an artist, he's toured 33 countries, produced multiple albums, commercial cuts, and music for film & TV. He currently lives in Denmark, where he records and produces music.

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Steve Cahill — Founder of Songwriters Resource Network, one of the world's leading organizations for songwriters, Steve has published interviews with some of America's foremost songwriters, including Randy Newman, Tom Waits, Billy Joel and John Prine. He's also written and produced music features for CBS News.

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Pat & Pete Luboff — Legendary songwriters and authors of two superb books focused on the craft of songwriting: "88 Song Wrongs and How To Right Them" and "12 Steps To Building Better Songs." Their songs have been recorded by Snoop Dogg, Bobby Womack, Patti LaBelle and featured in Hollywood movies.

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David Sieff — Formerly with A&M Records and Irving/Almo Music publishing, this veteran producer and publisher has produced and written over 70 themes for film and TV, including Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, which charted in the Top 10 on MTV.

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H.R. Cook — As director of Weaver Of Words Music (an affiliate of Bug Music Publishing) H.R. Cook has worked with Grammy-nominated artists and songwriters, including bluegrass music legend Del McCoury and Cherryholmes, winners in the International Bluegrass Music Awards.

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Rob Wright — Radio host and talent scout Rob (aka Mr. Raw) made his mark at Sony Music's A&R Department and went on to organize such HipHop organizations as Underground Music Awards, the A&R Power summit and Urban Threshold TV.

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Vincent Tognetti — Award-winning ASCAP songwriter and recording artist, Vincent has produced a wide variety of great music for radio, television and for corporate music libraries. He has also recorded and produced his own very impressive indie CD, "Rise Above It".

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Kevin Wicker — Producer Kevin Wicker has worked with many great recording artists, including Shelby Lynne, Gary S. Paxton and Billy Ray Cyrus. Kevin operates his recording studio on Music Row and enjoys working with songwriters to record demos and secure publishing.

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Check out these GASC Success Stories!

For more on the Great American Song Contest, please visit:
Contest FAQ and Why This Contest Is Best

See RULES & ENTRY above for details

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