Deadline: February 3, 2026 3:00 AM
ELIGIBILITY & GUIDELINES
Who can Participate in the Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge? High School Students from all 50 States, Washington D.C. and U.S. territories are eligible.
Entry Requirements
Each Participant can submit one original composition tailored for a musical theater production. The full musical does not need to be written, but the student will be asked to justify the song as a storytelling moment as part of the larger hypothetical work.
Collaborative entries (up to three Writers) are accepted, but all members of the team must meet the age and schooling requirements.
Limit of one solo entry and one collaborative entry per Participant.
Entries must be the wholly original work of the entrant(s) and should not infringe on any copyrights or any other rights of third parties.
If under the age of 18, the student must have permission from their parent or legal guardian by providing their parent/guardian’s signature and other requested information, which indicates their parent/guardian’s agreement and consent to the terms and conditions herein.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) advocate for creativity, originality and artistic expression. Any form of plagiarism will lead to disqualification.
What’s Not Allowed
- Remixes or covers of existing work.
- New works that sample or include stems/tracks from existing work.
- Adaptations of popular movies, books, TV shows and other pre-existing media.
- Songs promoting hate, discrimination or any form of offensive content.