National contest for musical theater songwriting open to Oregon high school students

The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Alliance for Musical Theatre announced the 2024-25 Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge for High School Students on Aug. 1.

The challenge is open to high school musicians, lyricists and composers from all 50 states, D.C. and U.S. territories.

Participants should submit one original composition written for a musical theater production. The entire musical does not need to be written, but the challenge requires the musician to justify how the song fits into a storytelling moment inside of a larger hypothetical work.

Winning student songwriters are invited to attend the Winners Weekend in New York City in 2025. There, they will continue to receive feedback, mentorship and see their music performed.

Compositions may have up to three writers as long as all participants meet the challenge requirements.

Remixes, covers, stems or samples of existing work are not allowed. Neither are adaptations of existing TV shows, movies, books or media, or songs that “promoting hate, discrimination or any form of offensive content,” according to the challenge guidelines.

The challenge is divided into two parts. The draft one submission phase opened Aug. 1 with submissions accepted until Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. In this phase, students will receive only feedback for their submissions.

The draft two phase begins in 2025 and is considered the competitive round. Composers should take the feedback they received in phase one and re-submit their compositions.

Submissions are evaluated on song construction, lyrical imagery, melody, rhythm, narrative strength and character and plot development.

For more information or to submit visit https://namt.org/challenge/challenge-guidelines/ .