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Hey, Musical Theater Geeks. It’s Your Time To Shine.

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Dallas teens: This one’s for you.

Submissions for NEA’s Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge are accepted through April 4. Additional submission info available here

Big Thought has joined forces with Playbill, Inc. and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to present a songwriting competition just for young musicians and lyricists with interest in contemporary musical theater. Old-school Broadway’s not your scene? What about hip-hop, country, rock or pop? It doesn’t matter — just so long as your song functions as part of a theatrical story-line. So, get writing! You could win a trip to New York City (all expenses paid) to work with musical theater pros: performers, songwriters and producers. In the end, you might even receive a $5,000 scholarship and a publishing contract. Runners up each receive $2,500 scholarships. Win-win, right? (Right.)songwriting-title-620

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In this first year of the competition, submissions will be drawn exclusively from high school songwriters in Dallas County, Seattle and Minneapolis.). Submissions must include music and lyrics by either a single creator or composer-lyricist duo. No professional recording equipment is required. In fact, the submission instructions suggest you record your winning tune on your phone.  Three semi-finalists will be judged by a panel of local arts experts, who will choose a winner to represent Dallas in New York.