OFFICIAL RULES 2021
ABOUT
The Nashville Songwriting Scholarship is an annual competition established in 2015 to encourage and support aspiring country music songwriters nationwide. The award commemorates Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)’s 75th Anniversary year and pays homage to musical epicenter and “Songwriting Capital of the World,” Nashville, Tennessee. A $5,000 scholarship is awarded for the best original song entry in any of the following genres: Americana, blues, bluegrass, contemporary Christian, country, folk, and roots. GRAMMY-winning recording artist and BMI songwriter Kacey Musgraves serves as honorary spokesperson for the competition.
ELIGIBILITY
In order to be eligible for the competition, all applicants must be:
NOTE: Nashville Songwriting Scholarship entrants who are also applying to the John Lennon Scholarships must submit different songs for each contest. Dual applicants may NOT submit the same original work to both competitions.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Applications must be submitted online no later than January 29, 2021, 11:59pm EST. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered. Before beginning an application, please read these guidelines thoroughly:
AWARD
One $5,000 award will be available for the competition. The Foundation reserves the right to make no award or to award a prize or prizes totaling less than the full amount. The BMI Foundation shall have the right (but shall have no obligation) to license up to three public performances of a winning composition and, in the case of works of a popular nature, authorize appropriate musical arrangements to be made for such performances. The BMI Foundation shall also have the right to post or share a recording and/or written lyrics of any winning compositions on the bmi.com and bmifoundation.org websites and social media profiles and to authorize the reproduction and distribution on audio tape and/or CD of no more than twelve (12) copies of each work. All other rights under the copyright law remain vested in the composer and lyricist.
The winner, if any, will be announced in late spring 2021 via email, in the press and/or at www.bmifoundation.org.
INQUIRIES
Please address all inquiries to:
scholarships@bmifoundation.org
Clay Bradley
Director, Nashville Songwriting Scholarship
BMI Foundation, Inc.
7 World Trade Center
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007-0030