Amateur Catholic songwriters are being offered a unique chance to have their music heard. This year, Point Clear Media, LLC is sponsoring a brand new competition for religious musicians: The Catholic Song Contest.
The Catholic Song Contest is a competition with the goal of discovering great new Catholic music from talented Christian amateur songwriters. The rules of the contest are simple: Write an original song with religiously inspired lyrics, record the song in MP3 format, submit the song, and wait for it to be judged.
The categories
The contest includes three main categories that will be considered for grand prizes: Liturgical Song/Hymn, Popular Christian Song, and Popular Secular Song. Liturgical music is, of course, the music that is most appropriate for use at Mass. Popular Christian songs include any faith song you hear on the radio (think Matt Maher or MercyMe). When they say “secular,” however, they mean songs that carry a faith message, without overt Christian references.
As far as genre goes, the Catholic Song Contest recognizes that Catholic music transcends genre. As such, they allow for a wide variety of musical stylings in their submissions. Their list of acceptable genres includes:
Adult Contemporary, Children’s Songs, Classical/Opera, Country/Bluegrass, Electronic/EDM, Folk/Americana, Gospel/R&B/Soul, Lyrics Only, Meditative/Chant, Pop/Rock, Rap/Hip Hop, and Vocal Jazz/Blues.
The music
The Catholic Song Contest wants only amateur songwriters to compete. They note that if you have made more than $5,000 in song royalties in the last year, you are ineligible. Their panel of judges also understands that amateur songwriters may not have access to high quality recording methods. To address this, they make it clear that sound quality is not nearly as important as showing competent song construction and melodic appeal.
While the contest is rooted in Catholicism, they also welcome songwriters of any other Christian denomination to compete. As long as the music glorifies God, it will be considered for the award. Lyricists are also welcome to join the competition without any musical accompaniment. These submissions would fall under the “Lyrics Only” genre. Instrumentals are, unfortunately, not accepted.
As this is the Catholic Song Contest’s first year, they require all submissions to be made from United States residents. Organizers lament that they could not expand this scope, but they hope to reach other countries in subsequent years. The contest is currently only geared towards English and Spanish lyrics, but organizers can be contacted about other languages.
The prizes
Winners of the three main categories will receive a one-year subscription to PreSonus Sphere with full access to their recording software, and a six-month subscription to Masterwriter for Songwriters, an invaluable tool for lyricists. Each of the winners of the individual genre categories will receive a three-month subscription to Masterwriter. All participants will take home at least a one-month subscription.
The Catholic Song Contest opens for submissions on July 1, 2021 and runs until November 26, 2021, the day before Advent begins. This means songwriters have practically five months to write and record their masterpieces. Results of the contest will be announced on or before January 6, 2022.
Click here to learn more details about this exciting new competition and get started writing your new song of faith today.
And today we celebrate...