A lyric sheet, $15, and no recording required — the cheapest entry on this desk, and the last of the year’s six sessions. Session Six closes September 15, 2026 at 11:59:59 p.m. CT.
There is no cash anywhere in this prize, and the terms are unusually clear about that. What the winner gets is a Gibson guitar, a one-page Q&A in the print magazine, and — for the Grand Prize across the year’s sessions — a round-trip domestic flight to Nashville, a co-writing session with a hit songwriter, a full-band demo at Omni Sound Studios and two nights at the Union Station Hotel. Every item is named; none of it is money.
The rights section is the same Section 5 that governs this publisher’s song contest, and it does the same two things in sequence: it disclaims ownership, then grants a licence over what you send. The licence is bounded to the purposes of the contest and it is non-exclusive, which is the good shape. What it has no end date for is the licence itself — so the sentence on this card reports that, rather than repeating the reassuring half and stopping there.
The record
Source
American Songwriter’s contests index (americansongwriter.com/contests-new), the Lyric Contest Terms and Conditions and the magazine’s lyric-contest winners archive, all captured August 11, 2026.
Refunds
Entry fees are non-refundable — the refunds clause.
Who can enter
Any songwriter or lyricist worldwide; entrants must be 13 or older, with parental consent under 18. Lyrics that have placed in the top four of a previous session may not be re-entered.
What it costs
“An entry fee of $15 payable to American Songwriter is required with each entry.” One flat price per lyric — no early/late ladder and no per-category multiplier. Captured August 11, 2026.
The prize
No cash component appears anywhere in the captured terms. First place receives a Gibson guitar; the winning lyric plus three runners-up and ten honourable mentions are published in the following issue, with a one-page Q&A for the winner. The Grand Prize is a Nashville trip: flights, a co-writing session with a hit songwriter, a full-band demo at Omni Sound Studios and two nights at the Union Station Hotel.
Rights, plainly
Section 5: “We do NOT claim ownership in the materials you submit in conjunction with the Contest”, followed in the same section by a grant of “a limited, non-exclusive license to use, stream, transmit, beam, store, publicly display, translate, reproduce, and distribute such Content, in any format, whether known or unknown… ONLY for purposes of the Contest.” Non-exclusive, purpose-bounded, and with no stated end date. The captured terms contain no use of “perpetuity”, “irrevocable”, “royalty-free” or “sublicense”.
How it is judged
“All entries are judged based on quality of lyrics and suitability for musical composition.” Professional songwriters screen first; industry judges pick the winners.
Feedback policy
Stated, and it is the same policy as this publisher’s song contest: entries receive no individual feedback, and a critique is sold separately as a membership benefit rather than included in the $15.