The Songwriters’ Association of Washington (SAW) presents the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest (MASC) to help songwriters receive recognition for their work and to further excellence in songwriting through education.
Now in its 37th year, the MASC has added three new categories for 2020: Video, Covid-19 songs, and Freedom songs. Entrants compete for monetary awards, other prizes such as recording credits, and MASC Awards Show and other performance opportunities. Gold, Silver, Finalist and Honorable Mention awards are presented in each category, and overall awards include a Director’s Award, Young Artist Awards, three Overall Grand Prizes, and other special awards.
All entries must be submitted online by 11:59 pm on September 30th 2020.
The categories for this year's contest are: Adult Contemporary, Americana, Children's, Country/Bluegrass, Folk Acoustic, Gospel/Inspirational/Christian, Instrumental, Open, Pop, R&B/Hip Hop/Urban, Rock/Alternative, Vocal Jazz/Blues, Lyrics Only, Covid-19 (NEW), Freedom (NEW), Video (NEW).
The judges are music industry leaders and musicians, including Grammy winners, previous winners of MASC and other song contests, plus some SAW leaders.
You may enter as many songs as you wish in each category. You may want to listen to past winning songs to help determine which category to enter. You may enter the same song in more than one category. Entry fees are calculated based on one category per song, so entering a song in two or more categories means that additional entry fees will apply. Discounts for entering multiple songs apply when the songs are entered in the same submission form submission, and SAW members are eligible to enter at a discounted rate.
Each entry MUST have lyrics, except for the Instrumental category. Instrumental category entries MUST include a three-sentence explanation of the artistic intent of the composition. Submissions in the Video category are entered as YouTube or Vimeo links. Videos are not eligible for the MASC Grand Prize.
Eligibility
You must not have made more than $5,000 in publishing royalties in 2019 and you cannot be employed as a staff writer for a publishing company nor have been paid for such services by a publishing company.
Each entry must be wholly original (co-writers allowed) and shall not infringe on any copyrights or any other rights of any third party. The artist need not be the performer. Each entrant shall hold SAW harmless from and against claims inconsistent with these requirements.
No composition or lyric may be entered that has been: (1) placed under contract for commercial sale with any record label in which the underlying contract prohibits the distribution of the artist’s recording on the MASC website or other channels; or (2) selected in previous years’ MASC contests as Gold, Silver, or Finalist. You may resubmit songs which have won Honorable Mention in past contests.
DISCLAIMER: Current SAW Board members and contractors are not eligible to enter the MASC.
Refer to the SAW website for more information.
