Babyface Award
for songwriters and composers
The BMI Foundation Babyface Award provides artistic and business mentorship and a $10,000 career grant to songwriters and composers of R&B, hip-hop, soul, and other music of the African diaspora.
One of the most celebrated creative forces in music history, Babyface developed his love for music early on when he began songwriting at the age of 12. Upon graduating high school, he got signed to his first record deal after joining the band, Manchild. In the 1980s, he broke into the music world as guitarist and songwriter for the R&B band, The Deele. Today, Babyface is the only producer to win the ‘Producer of the Year’ category four times, three times of which was in consecutive years (1995-1997); a record he holds to this day. He has also had three consecutive multi-platinum albums: Tender Lover (1989), featuring the #1 “Tender Lover”; For the Cool in You (1993), which included “Never Keeping Secrets” and “When Can I See You”; and The Day (1996) featuring “Every Time I Close My Eyes.” Babyface is also co-founder of the legendary record label LaFace, which launched the careers of artists like Usher, Toni Braxton, TLC, Outkast, and P!nk, and he has written and produced hits for artists including Bobby Brown, Boyz II Men, Eric Clapton, Madonna, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande, Mary J Blige, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, Phil Collins, Janet Jackson, NSYNC, Chaka Khan, Faith Evans, Jay Z, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Lionel Richie, Michael Bolton, Kenny G, Lil Wayne, Luther Vandross, Barbara Streisand, and countless others.
The Babyface Award was founded in 2026 with a $25,000 investment from Wells Fargo. The program is co-directed by BMI Executive Director, Creative, Atlanta Byron Wright and songwriter, producer and performer Will Wells.
Eligibility Requirements
All applicants:
must be age 18-29 as of June 30, 2026.
must be in residence in the United States or its territories.
may only submit one application per year to the Babyface Award.
may not submit the same musical work to the Babyface Award and another BMI Foundation awards program.
may only submit works that have not been assigned to any major music publisher or major record label, or commercially published or distributed. Self-released works are eligible.
Co-Written Works
If your work is co-written, it must meet the following requirements:
Co-written works can have no more than 3 total writers.
All co-writers must meet eligibility requirements.
Awards will be split evenly among co-writers for co-written works, and co-writers will each receive the award.
Only songwriters should be listed as co-writers for the award. No other artists should be listed (performers, producers, etc.).
DEADLINE: JUNE 30, 2026
Application Requirements
A 1-2 minute informal video personal statement.
For works with co-writers, all writers must be included in your personal statement.
Two audio files and anonymized lyric sheets (if applicable) of original musical work(s).
Lyrics can be in any language. If they are in a language other than English, please include an English translation.
A description (audio, visual, or written) of the creative process that led to the creation of the music you are submitting in this application.