Announcing Choral Music Lyrics Competition

You are invited to write the lyrics for a completely new choral composition that will have its premier performance in November of 2020. Collegium Vocale, an auditioned community chorus, is excited to commission a choral music composition to celebrate its 65th anniversary in 2020.

To that end, the chorus has established a $1,000 prize for the winning submission of lyrics suitable for presentation to a selected composer who will set the chosen lyrics to music. Any interested person is allowed to compete. Submissions will be accepted by email only to LyricsCompetition@cvchorus.org through Friday, June 14th at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

The following guidelines will be followed:

  • Lyrics should be in English and must be suitable for setting to music for a choir of mixed voices.

  • Lyrics should be inspirational and uplifting. Possible themes might represent concepts such as:

    • Why we sing

    • What music means to me

    • Living in harmony, etc.

  • Lyrics may be prose or poetry, with the understanding that poetry in a consistent meter lends itself more readily to be set to music.

  • Lyrics must be original, uncopyrighted and previously unpublished material.

  • Only one submission per author will be accepted. If an author enters two or more submissions, the first one received will be entered and the others will not be read or considered by the panel.

  • Selected author must be willing to allow their text to be set as the composer chooses, with possible modification, repetition, and/or deletion of words to fit the music. It is anticipated that the resulting composition will have a duration of 4-6 minutes.

  • Author must further allow the composer to submit the completed work for publication, with any copyright agreements or royalties to be negotiated between the author, composer, and publisher. The author’s name will appear, along with the composer’s name, at the top of the first page of music in any publication. Collegium Vocale will play no role nor assume any responsibility regarding rights and royalties.

  • Submissions will be reviewed by a blind panel consisting of the Collegium Vocale Music Director and selected board members. Authors will not be identifiable in any way to the selection panel. If no submission is deemed suitable, the panel reserves the right to declare no winner.

  • All authors will be notified of the judging panel’s decision by email. The winning submission will be retained and provide the lyrics for the commissioned work. No part of any of the other submittals will be used in the commission. All other submissions will be deleted from our records.

  • Author must be able to be legally paid in the United States in U.S. dollars, and assume any tax liability for the $1,000 prize.

  • Composer and author are encouraged to attend the premier performance of the work, anticipated to be November 14, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia.