The Song Post.
Competitions/International Songwriting Competition, Inc.

International Songwriting Competition 2026.

with International Songwriting Competition, Inc. — the 2025 winners are published by name, song and category — Samuel Opoku’s “Old” took the Grand Prize, with first places listed beneath it in AAA, Blues, Children’s Music and Country · listed Aug 2Verified · Sep 29
Closes
November 23
three weeks
Entry
$35 per song, per category
the Extended tier, in force from September 17 until entries close on November 23 — the full ladder, and an earlier $20 home-page offer, are in the record
You could win
$25,000 cash
plus studio time, guitars and gear
Your rights
You keep every ownership right in the song you enter — Rule 14.
A publicity-rights note: Rule 10: “Entry constitutes permission to use winner's name, likeness, and voice for future advertising and publicity purposes without additional compensation.” That is a grant over a winner’s publicity, not over the song — and the same clause shape appears in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest (Section 5) and the International Acoustic Music Awards (Rule 6), both also on this desk.

ISC runs one cycle a year in three fee tiers. The rules page prints them as “Early Bird: July 1, 2026– $25 / Regular September 16, 2026 – $30 / Extended: November 23, 2026 – $35”. Only the last of those three is a closing date; the first two are price rises. This card therefore counts down to November 23. September 16 has passed, so the price is now the Extended tier’s $35 — the door did not shut. The fee is charged per song per category, and the rules do the arithmetic themselves: “if the current fee is $30 and you enter one song in two categories, the fee is $60.”

One thing to check before you pay. On the day we captured these pages the ISC home page was advertising “ISC ENTRY FEE ONLY $20 FOR LIMITED TIME”, dated July 28, 2026, with no stated end date — a different number from the one on the rules page. Both are quoted in the record below. Re-read on September 29, 2026, the home page no longer carries that offer, or any fee at all, and the rules page’s $35 is the only price ISC publishes. The rules add that ISC “will be running additional special promotions throughout the competition and after the Extended Deadline through January, 2027”, so a lower price at the entry form is possible — it is not a published one, and the entry form is where the price actually applies.

The Grand Prize is $25,000 (US) in cash, which is unusual on this desk — of the eleven competitions listed here, four carry a cash top prize above $2,500. Ownership is dealt with in Rule 14; the clause worth reading twice is Rule 10, quoted above.

The record
Who can enter
Open worldwide, online. Entries are made per category, and the rules contemplate the same song entered in more than one.
What it costs
The rules page lists three tiers — “Early Bird: July 1, 2026– $25 / Regular September 16, 2026 – $30 / Extended: November 23, 2026 – $35” — charged per song, per category. The home page separately advertised “ISC ENTRY FEE ONLY $20 FOR LIMITED TIME”, dated July 28, 2026, with no stated end date. Both pages captured August 2, 2026. Re-read September 29, 2026: the tier ladder on the rules page is unchanged, so the Extended $35 is the price in force until November 23, and the home page no longer shows the $20 offer or any fee.
When it actually closes
November 23, 2026 — the Extended deadline, and the last dated one the rules print. September 16 is the Regular tier’s price rise, not a close: the rules page lists all three tiers under one heading, “Deadlines and Entry Fees for ISC 2026”, and only the last of them ends entry. Re-verified on the rules page August 14, 2026, which also added a line the August 2 capture did not carry: “ISC will be running additional special promotions throughout the competition and after the Extended Deadline through January, 2027.” Rule 3 separately reserves ISC’s right “to extend the entry deadlines”.
The prize
$25,000 (US) cash to the Grand Prize winner. The non-cash side is itemised on the prizes page: three days at The Church Studio with an engineer and two nights’ lodging, two Godin guitars, an sE Electronics XL S microphone bundle, Zildjian cymbals and headphones, and Lurssen mastering.
Rights, plainly
Rule 14: “Entrant retains all ownership rights to all submitted song(s). ISC will not have any ownership rights to any song(s) submitted.” Rule 10 grants publicity rights over winners — quoted in full above, and a separate question from the song.
Refunds
Rule 3: “All entry fees are non-refundable.”
Feedback policy
Stated, in the same rule: “ISC does not give feedback or a critique to entrants.” Re-read on the rules page September 29, 2026.
Source
ISC rules page (songwritingcompetition.com/rules), prizes page and home page, all captured August 2, 2026; the rules page re-read and the deadline re-verified August 14, 2026; the rules and home pages re-read and the fee re-verified September 29, 2026.
more from this desk
Competition

International Acoustic Music Awards 2026

with International Acoustic Music Awards
Closes
November 6
this Friday
Entry
$35 per song
You could win
No cash, $11,000 of merchandise and services to the Grand Prize winner
“Entrants and their collaborators will retain full rights to all work submitted for the competition” — Rule 5.
A publicity-rights note: Rule 6: “Entry constitutes permission to use winners names, likeness and voices for future publicity and advertising purposes without additional compensation.” A publicity grant over winners, not a claim on the song — the same clause shape appears in ISC’s Rule 10 and the John Lennon Songwriting Contest’s Section 5.
Verified · Aug 2The record
Competition

The American Songwriter Lyric Contest — 2027, Session One

with American Songwriter
Closes
November 15
two weeks
Entry
$15 per lyric
You could win
No cash. The 2027 prize package is not yet published; what the page confirms for every session is that all 15 finalists are featured in American Songwriter and first through fourth place have their lyrics published, and the terms name a Gibson guitar for first place and a Nashville co-writing trip for the year’s Grand Prize winner
The license has no stated end date — Section 5 (Content).
A heads-up: Section 5 (Content) takes a licence over what you send and never states how long it lasts. Scope, duration and revocability are what a licence means — an ownership disclaimer standing next to it settles none of them, so this is the question to put to American Songwriter in writing before you enter.
Verified · Sep 29The record