Attention bluegrass songwriters! Here’s another chance to get your songs out amongst the many artists looking for material.
The Circa-Blue Fest, held each May in Martinsburg, WV, has announced a new songwriting contest. The deadline to enter is March 31, with winners announced on April 22. It is open to any songwriter who receives less than half of their income from writing royalties.
An entry fee of $25 is requested for each song, with an award of $300 given to the winner. $150 goes to second place and $75 for third. The writer(s) of the winning entry will also be invited to perform their song during the festival, held May 12-13, 2017.
Judges for the Circa-Blue Fest Songwriting Contest will be Shelby Gold of Gold Heart, our own David Morris, and his songwriting partner, Dawn Kenney. Shelby writes many of the songs recorded by her family band, and David and Dawn have seen more than a dozen of their songs recorded by bluegrass artists. They also won the bluegrass award from the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerlfeFest in 2015, and second in the Hazel Dickens Songwriting Contest in ’16.
The festival will host multiple songwriting workshops during that weekend as well.
Proceeds from the competition will go to benefit the DC Bluegrass Country Foundation, the new operators of Bluegrass Country radio, formerly managed by WAMU in our nation’s capitol.
Entries will be accepted by email or postal mail, with full details explained online.
Give it a try and see how your song matches up!
