Darius Rucker To Mentor Song Contest Winner

Budding songwriters take note: the NSAI Song Contest Presented by CMT opens August 1 and the grand prize winner will get a mentoring session with Darius Rucker.

NSAI’s 11th annual contest, running through Oct. 31, will yield one industry-selected Grand Prize Winner and one CMT Listeners’ Choice Winner. Past winners have found success ranging from artist development deals to music publishing staff writer deals.

“Through the years the NSAI Song Contest has been a vehicle to let our organization discover some amazing new talent. Many of the winners have gone on to sign professional songwriting or artist deals. While many of the new talents were not the winners, they were discovered throughout the judging process. We get excited every year when the NSAI Song Contest Presented by CMT comes around for this reason!” says NSAI Executive Director Bart Herbison.

Nashville pro writers, publishers and industry professionals will select the Grand Prize Winner, 10 Runners-Up and 10 Honorable Mentions before the Top 10 (excluding the Grand Prize Winner) are posted on nsai.cmt.com. Fans can vote online for their favorite song from January 15-February 28, 2011. Last year there were more than 450,000 votes for the CMT Listeners’ Choice.

All genres of music are encouraged. The entry fees are $35.00 (current NSAI Members) and $45.00 (Non-Members) per song. In addition to the mentoring session with Rucker, prizes include a single-song professional demo, tickets to the 2011 CMT Music Awards, a tour of the CMT studios, a performance at The Bluebird Café, meetings with major music publishers and a one-year membership to NSAI. For a full list of prizes and how to enter, visit nsai.cmt.com.