Peggy Lee Songwriter Award

The ASCAP Foundation

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The ASCAP Foundation Peggy Lee Songwriter Award (the “Award”) recognizes lyricists of original songs who demonstrate an intelligent use of language, talent and career potential.

Criteria

Submissions will be anonymously judged by a panel of judges based on the following criteria:

• demonstration of intelligent use of language, talent and career potential in jazz and popular music and
• the song’s overall craft, artistry and compositional elements.

Prize

The Award Recipient(s) will receive the prize of $2,500.00 U.S.D. (to be shared equally among all co-writers identified in connection with the Submission). The approximate retail value of the Prize is $2,500.

Eligibility

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• 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 organization
  • For 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 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.
• 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 Requirements
  • Eligible Entrants will be nominated and invited to enter the Competition 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 platform, and
  • the name of the Nominator for each Entrant.
  • The file size limitation for MP3s and PDFs is 250mb.

Ineligibility

• Entrants must not be currently signed to a “major” publishing 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.
• 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).
• 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.