Opelika Songwriters Festival
Guitarist Allen Hinds playing for a room of music students at Lucky Man Studio, Auburn University

Student Songwriter Showcase

Write your own songs and you can play them at a festival that books people who do it for a living.

Three Students.One Real Stage.

Every year a judging panel picks three student songwriters out of the entries, and those three play an in-the-round set together at the Opelika Songwriters Festival, the same format the touring writers play all weekend. You bring original songs. That is the whole requirement.

Enter a Song

The Rules

Who can enter
Anyone under the age of 18 who is a senior in high school or younger. There is no entry fee.
What to send
A YouTube link or a link to an mp3, plus the lyrics to the song. Every song submitted has to be original.
How many songs
As many as you like. Each song counts as its own separate entry.
Who picks
A judging panel selects three students to perform. Everyone who enters hears back by email.

Entries are taken online only. OSF reserves the right to extend the entry deadline if it needs to.

Benji Shanks and Charlie Starr seated side by side trading songs, the in-the-round format the showcase set uses

What You Get

  • An in-the-round set with the other two selected students on The Sound Wall Music Initiative Sponsored Stage
  • A weekend festival pass
  • One ticket to the Songwriters Workshop, led by festival performers

Send Us a Song

One song per entry. Have more than one? Send the form again for each song.

A parent or guardian needs to fill in their details and give permission. The showcase is run by The Sound Wall Music Initiative, the nonprofit behind OSF.

Other Experiences
The student
Parent or guardian
The song

A YouTube link or a link to an mp3 (Google Drive, Dropbox and SoundCloud all work). Make sure it's viewable by anyone with the link.

Leave blank if you wrote it on your own.