Jay Gorney Award Grant

Jay Gorney Award Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Ascap Foundation
Amount: US $1,000
Last Updated: April 04, 2025

Summary

The ASCAP Foundation's Jay Gorney Award honors songwriters who create original music with socially conscious themes. Established in 2009, this award commemorates composer Jay Gorney's legacy, particularly his iconic song 'Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?' Entrants are judged on their ability to convey powerful messages through artistry and lyrical excellence. The award includes a $1,000 monetary prize, fostering creativity and social awareness in the music community.

Overview

The ASCAP Foundation We are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, supported by contributions from ASCAP members and music fans throughout the United States. We operate and support vital programs that impact millions of music creators and music lovers of all ages every year. Jay Gorney Award About The ASCAP Foundation Jay Gorney Award recognizes writers of original songs with socially conscious themes, judged on the strength of the message and artistic and compositional excellence. Jay Gorney was a composer and long-time member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (“ASCAP”) who, along with lyricist E. Y. “Yip” Harburg, wrote the 1930’s classic, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” which became an anthem of the Great Depression. The Award was established in 2009 by Jay’s wife Sondra and son Dr. Roderic Gorney, to commemorate Jay’s career and legacy. Criteria how well the song honors the memory of Jay Gorney and reflects the sentiment of Jay’s song, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”; how well the song captures a message of social conscience; the intelligibility of the song lyrics; and the song’s significance and overall craft, artistry and compositional elements. Prize One songwriter/lyricist will be selected as the Award Recipient and will receive a monetary prize of $1,000.00 U.S.D. (to be shared equally among all co-writers identified in connection with the Submission).

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. To be eligible for consideration for the Award, an entrant must be, as of the expiration of the Application Period, either an ASCAP writer member in good standing OR a writer who is not affiliated with any performing rights or collective rights management organizationFor a writer member of ASCAP to be in good standing, such writer must have been: elected to membership in ASCAP, be eligible to vote at General Meetings of ASCAP, and have not either:resigned from membership or delivered an effective notice of intent to resign from membership. The Foundation may, in its sole discretion, disqualify any Entrant if, at any time prior to the awarding of the Prize, such writer is no longer in good standing with ASCAP or becomes affiliated with any performing rights or collective rights management organization (other than ASCAP).Entrants must also be, at the time of entry: A U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident or enrolled student with a valid and current U.S. student visa AND at least 18 years of age or the age of majority in the state or country of residence, whichever is older. Further, Entrants must not be currently signed to a “major” publishing, record or administrative deal and the song entry must not have been commercially recorded by a major publisher or record label, each as determined by the Foundation in its sole discretion.If the song submitted as part of the Submission is co-written, all co-writers shall be considered Entrants and must satisfy these eligibility criteria, together with all other requirements set forth in the Rules.Submission RequirementsEligible Entrants must:be nominated and invited to enter for consideration for the Award by a representative of ASCAP’s Creative Services department or the Foundation (as applicable, a “Nominator”)Applicants must upload and submit the following:an .mp3 file containing the song that the Entrant wishes to be considered for the Award, ensuring all meta data (file data that identify the songwriter(s)) is removed from the file before sending;a PDF lyric sheet with song title included without the writer’s name(s)Each line of lyrics should be numbered as well as stanzas labeled with intro, verse, chorus, bridge. (lyrics must not contain profanities, vulgarities and/or derogatory language, each as determined by the Foundation in its sole discretion);a completed application form, accessed and completed through the digital competition platformthe name of the Nominator for each Entrant. The file size limitation for MP3s and PDFs is 250mb.

Ineligibility

A song will not be eligible for Award consideration if an Entrant’s interest in such musical composition is being licensed by any performing rights or collective rights management organization (other than ASCAP). The Foundation may, in its sole discretion, disqualify any song for Award consideration if, at any time prior to the awarding of the Prize, such song becomes licensed by any performing rights or collective rights management organization (other than ASCAP).Void where prohibited by law and outside the fifty (50) United States and District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Judges of the Award or anyone involved in the Judging Procedure as set forth in the Award Requirements are not permitted to enter or win the Award. Employees, officers and directors of the Foundation, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and any affiliated company, organization or entity, and their immediate family members, are not eligible to participate in the Award. For purpose of the foregoing, “immediate family” means parents, spouses, children, siblings or any members of the same households of such employees, officers and directors.