Enter for your chance to win up to $5,000 cash; mentoring sessions with Elle King and "And The Writer Is..." hosts Ross Golan and Joe London, or with Tom Douglas; 1 of 12 Martin guitars; a one-year, single-song contract with Anthem Entertainment; prize packs from NSAI and CMT and more!

20TH ANNUAL NSAI SONG CONTEST PRESENTED BY MARTIN GUITARS AND STRINGS AND CMT

TO ENTER ONLINE, CLICK HERE

To enter by mail, print this form.

• This contest is open to amateur songwriters only.
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• All genres of music are accepted and encouraged.
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• The entry cost is $35 per song for NSAI members and $45 per song for all non-NSAI members.
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• Multiple entries are accepted, but each submission requires its own entry fee.
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• All entries must be postmarked by the CONTEST DEADLINE: 12:00 p.m. CDT October 31, 2019.
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• Judges are comprised of Music Industry Professionals, Award-Winning Songwriters and NSAI Pro Songwriters. Entries are judged based on lyrics, melody and composition. Performance and production will not be evaluated.
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• Prizes are awarded to one (1) Grand Prize Winner, nine (9) Runners-Up, ten (10) Honorable Mentions, one (1) Lyric-Only Winner and one (1) Lyric-Only Runner-Up. All songs entered receive a personalized score sheet.
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• Have questions about the contest? Click here for a list of FAQs.

Multiplatinum artist Elle King released her critically acclaimed second album "Shake the Spirit" in October 2018. The album featured King's fourth radio No. 1 hit "Shame," which made her the only act in history to have scored No. 1 singles on the Adult Pop Songs, Adult Alternative Songs, Alternative Songs and Country Airplay charts. "Shake the Spirit" follows the singer-songwriter's debut record "Love Stuff," which featured her double-platinum breakthrough single and two-time Grammy-nominated hit "Ex's & Oh's." The track hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Rock Songs Chart, topped their Adult Alternative and Adult Contemporary charts and led to King becoming the second female artist in two decades to reach No. 1 on Billboard's Alternative Radio chart. King also collaborated with Dierks Bentley on the No. 1 Grammy-nominated hit "Different for Girls," which later won a Country Music Award for Vocal Event of the Year. King continues to appeal to crowds across genres while headlining the Shake the Spirit Tour and on HEART's Live Alive Tour. King will also serve as direct support for Miranda Lambert's The Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour that will launch this fall. For more information, visit elleking.com.

Joe London is a Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer who co-wrote Thomas Rhett's Grammy-nominated and BMI Country Song of the Year "Die a Happy Man" and co-produced Rhett's hit singles "Star of the Show" and "Craving You (feat. Maren Morris).'' He also co-wrote and co-produced on Rhett's Grammy-nominated album Life Changes, including the No. 1 single "Sixteen." London co-wrote and produced Jason Derulo's "Wiggle (feat. Snoop Dogg)," Pitbull's "Fireball (feat. John Ryan)" Fifth Harmony's "BO$$," Sage the Gemini's "Now & Later," Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's "Speak to a Girl," Ally Brooke's "Low Key (feat. Tyga)," Charlotte Lawrence's "Everybody Loves You," and Lizzo's "Fitness" and "Worship." Additionally, London co-wrote and co-produced Bomba Estereo's Grammy-nominated albums Amanecer and Ayo.

Over the last half-decade, Ross Golan has emerged as one of the most compelling songwriters in music today. Along with penning tracks for artists as eclectic as Nicki Minaj, Lady Antebellum and Michael Buble, he's lent his lyrical prowess and melodic finesse to multiplatinum hits like Selena Gomez's "Same Old Love" and Ariana Grande's "Dangerous Woman." But in the midst of sending songs to the top of the charts, Golan also brought his limitless artistry to the making of "The Wrong Man," a concept album that began as a soul-stirring folk song about a man falsely accused of murder.

Golan first discovered his affinity for lyrical storytelling at age 14, mining inspiration from artists like Tom Waits. While studying music at the University of Southern California, he launched his own record company and ventured into writing for other singers, and later co-founded the acclaimed alt-rock band Glacier Hiking. As he built up his songwriting repertoire, Golan began scoring placements with major artists like Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato and Maroon 5, quickly expanding his output to include No. 1 hits on both the Pop and Country charts.

Tom Douglas is an accomplished country music songwriter. He describes himself as a songwriter-singer rather than a singer-songwriter, because he fell in love with song first. After enjoying a 13-year career in commercial real estate, Douglas emerged in the country music world at the age of 41 following the success of his first co-written single. "Little Rock," recorded by Collin Raye, reached No. 2, earned a nomination for CMA Song of the Year and won a BMI Million-Air award for receiving 1 million plays on country radio. Since then, Douglas has written numerous No. 1 hits, including Lady Antebellum's "I Run to You," Tim McGraw's "Southern Voice," and Miranda Lambert's Grammy Award-winning song "The House That Built Me," which spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

Douglas has written countless well-received songs for a wide range of country artists, including John Michael Montgomery, Martina McBride, Kenny Chesney, LOCASH, Carrie Underwood, Parmalee, Kane Brown, Keith Urban, Lee Ann Womack, Drake White, George Strait, Luke Bryan and Brett Eldredge, among others. In 2014, Douglas was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, subsequently receiving a Grammy nomination for his song "Meanwhile Back at Mamma's," recorded by Tim McGraw. Douglas's recent work includes the debut single "Make Him Wait" recorded by Abby Anderson, and "Drunk Girl" recorded by Chris Janson, which received the 2018 MusicRow Song of the Year Award. He also penned the song "Dear Hate" recorded by Maren Morris and Vince Gill, which earned a Grammy nomination fo 2019 Country Song of the Year. Douglas is currently signed to Sony/ATV Music Publishing and lives in Nashville with his wife, Katie.

CMT urges users to refer to the Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy and Terms of Use info before entering any of our sweepstakes or contests.

Please refer to the Terms and Conditions of the 20th Annual NSAI Song Contest before entering.

"And The Writer Is…" is a weekly podcast hosted and produced by award-winning songwriters Ross Golan and Joe London in association with Big Deal Music and Mega House Music. Launched in January 2017, ATWI celebrates music and the people who compose the hits.

Every week, Ross sits down with an acclaimed and venerable songwriter to discuss what happens behind closed doors in the music industry. Each interview is hosted by Ross and recorded by Joe. Ross explores the songwriting process, inspirations and pitfalls of some of today's hottest songwriters, like Charlie Puth, Jack Antonoff, Thomas Rhett, Babyface, Julia Michaels, Benny Blanco, Ricky Reed, Justin Tranter, Bebe Rexha, John Ryan, Andy Grammer, Mike Posner, Ashley Gorley, Desmond Child, Luke Laird and more. Each hourlong episode is an insightful and often humorous look into the craft, lives and passion of today's hitmakers.

Anthem Entertainment is one of the world's leading independent music and entertainment content and services companies. It is comprised of a music publishing division, recorded-music label, production music division and a leading film and television audiovisual secondary rights management company. Anthem Entertainment operates offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Nashville and Toronto, with a team of approximately 200 dedicated industry professionals. Anthem supports artists, creates content and provides entertainment services around the world. As technology and entertainment evolve, Anthem works hard to create and maximize opportunities for their talent and clients. Their difference: an approach that combines the resources, power and reach of a major with the agility, entrepreneurism and soul of an indie. For more information, visit anthementertainment.com.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP's mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world's best-loved music, and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business -- from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With more than 670,000 members representing more than 11.5 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers and the only American performing rights organization owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. Learn more and stay in touch at ascap.com, on Twitter and Instagram @ASCAP and at facebook.com/ascap.

Celebrating over 77 years of service to songwriters, composers, music publishers and businesses, Broadcast Music Inc. is a global leader in music rights management, serving as an advocate for the value of music. BMI represents the public performance rights in nearly 13 million musical works created and owned by more than 800,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. BMI negotiates music license agreements and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to its affiliated writers and publishers when their songs are performed in public. In 1939, BMI created a groundbreaking open-door policy, becoming the only performing rights organization to welcome and represent the creators of blues, jazz, country and American roots music. Today, the musical compositions in BMI's repertoire, from chart-toppers to perennial favorites, span all genres of music and are consistently among the most-performed hits of the year. For additional information and the latest BMI news, visit bmi.com, follow @BMI on Twitter or stay connected through Broadcast Music Inc.'s Facebook page.

C. F. Martin & Co. has been inspiring musicians worldwide for nearly two centuries with their superior guitar and string products. Martin guitars and strings remain the choice for musicians around the world for their unrivaled quality, craftsmanship and tone. Throughout the company's long history, Martin products can be seen and heard across all genres of music and in all segments of pop culture, from concert and theater stages to television and movies.

Martin maintains an unwavering commitment to environmental sustainability and responsible manufacturing practices and is the first in the musical instrument industry to receive certified B Corporation status. Martin continually drives the acoustic guitar market forward, introducing innovative features that have become standards across the industry. These groundbreaking innovations include the introduction of X-bracing, the 14-fret guitar and the "dreadnought"-size guitar. 

Martin has also led innovations in strings, such as introducing the first high-tensile-strength steel-string core wire; the first nickel acoustic strings (Martin Retro); the proprietary titanium core strings; and now the groundbreaking, new Authentic Acoustic line, which offers unmatched stability, tone, comfort and longevity.

Connect with Martin Guitars and Martin Strings on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube, and via martinguitar.com.

SESAC Performing Rights is the second-oldest and the most progressive performing rights organization in the U.S., representing songwriters, composers and publishers. Powered by a sophisticated cloud-based data services platform, the PRO drives greater efficiency in licensing for music users and enhances value for its affiliated writers and publishers by providing timely, efficient royalty distribution. SESAC's highly diverse roster includes globally recognized music creators. SESAC has offices in Nashville, New York, Los Angeles and London.

At Southwest, we're always in tune with your travel needs. We don't charge bag fees -- so bring along your instrument of choice. Have a new gig booked? Our low fares and no change fees can help you when your schedule changes. Check out Southwest.com to book your next flight.

Celebrating 40 years on Nashville's Music Row, We Make Tapes & Discs is the longest-standing provider of CD, DVD and USB duplication, replication, packaging and printing in Music City. Whether you order one or 1 million, you will receive superior service every time. WMTD takes pride in developing genuine relationships with each customer -- big and small. WMTD also offers graphic design services, die-cutting and many types of general printing including promotional posters, business cards and laminate badges. Visit wemaketapes.com to start your project today.