Sammy Cahn Award Grant

Sammy Cahn Award Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Ascap Foundation
Amount: US $5,000
Last Updated: April 04, 2025

Summary

The Sammy Cahn Award, presented by The ASCAP Foundation, honors exceptional lyric-writing talent among songwriters of original songs. Established in 1995 to commemorate Sammy Cahn's legacy, the award offers a $5,000 prize to recipients. Eligible entrants include ASCAP writer members in good standing or independent songwriters. Submissions are judged anonymously based on lyric quality and overall craft, ensuring the recognition of artistic excellence within the songwriting 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. Sammy Cahn Award About The ASCAP Foundation Sammy Cahn Award (the “Award”) recognizes the craft of lyric-writing by songwriters of original songs. The Award was established in 1995 in honor of Sammy Cahn’s unique achievements as a multi-Academy Award-winning lyric writer and friend of music. On June 18, 2013, the 100th anniversary of Sammy Cahn’s birth was celebrated by lovers of the Great American Songbook. Through the generosity of Sammy Cahn's widow, Tita Cahn, The ASCAP Foundation is able to continue to fund the Competition and Award Criteria Submissions will be anonymously judged by a panel of judges based on the following criteria: the song’s lyrics; andthe song’s overall craft, artistry and compositional elements. Prize The Award Recipient(s) will receive the prize of $5,000.00 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 $5,000.

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 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 RequirementsEligible 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, andthe 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, 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.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.