Rules & Regulations of the Australian Song Writing Contest

1. CLOSING DATE - 31 May 2025, but the ASA reserves the right to be flexible with this date as may be deemed desirable.
2. ENTRY FEES – The cost is $33 per song for ASA Members or $44 for Non-members (ASA Membership is $99 for an adult, or $49 for a senior or junior, and well worth doing to save you money on entry fees and Awards Tickets, as well as keeping you well informed via the members’ monthly newsletters. The best way to do this is to click the blue Become A Member tab on the website homepage www.asai.org.au then come back to this Entry Platform where your member’s discount will automatically kick in).
3. ENTRANTS - Entry is open to both amateur and professional songwriters of any nationality, but must use English language. Entries must be in the name of an individual. The entrant must be the writer or a co-writer of each song entered. Entrants may join the ASA at the time of entry by submitting payment of membership fee with completed entry form, thereby qualifying themselves for Members’ discount rates. Contest entry is not open to ASA Board Members, or persons involved in the administration and processing of entries.
4. COMPOSITIONS - Material must be original (both lyrics and tune) and must not have had any obvious commercial success at the time of entry (so professional songwriters cannot enter their published hits, but an unknown song that is registered with a publisher, is acceptable).
5. COPYRIGHT - Only material in which the entrant has copyright for may be entered in this Contest. The entrant implies that they have full copyright by the act of entering the Contest. Entrants guarantee to indemnify the Contest organisers against any claim or loss resulting from noncompliance with copyright laws. Entrants' copyright in submitted songs is not affected by entering the Contest.
6. CO-WRITERS - The names of all contributing writers (co-writers) must be included on the entry form. It is the responsibility of the entrant to divide any prizes with co-writers appropriately.
7. PROMOTIONAL USE - By entering, the entrant agrees that entry materials may be used by the Australian Songwriters Association for promotional purposes. This includes such things as placing the Top 10 songs on the ASA website, production of compilation CDs and DVDs, reproduction of Top 10 lyrics in the ASA magazine and possible internet, radio, television broadcast.
8. JUDGING - All entries are rendered anonymous and numbered prior to judging so that there is no bias to known writers. The judges' decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into. The ASA Board will have final discretion in all matters. All entries are judged in the preliminary rounds by at least 3 judges, prior to the selection of Shortlisted and Top 30 Finalist songs in each category. Finalists are judged by a fresh set of music industry professionals, with different judges for each category. This means that the same song in 2 different categories will be given a fresh assessment with subsequent varied results. The Top 10 are obtained by painstaking culling of the Top 30.
9. NOTIFICATION OF RESULTS - Those who are Shortlisted will receive an email notifying them of this achievement, by around August/September this year. Those who proceed to the Top 30 will not be emailed but are required to go to the website www.asai.org.au to view the Top 30 lists approximately 2 weeks after the shortlisting email. The Top 10 finalists won't be announced until the actual National Songwriting Awards (live or virtual), and all winning songs will be played in full for the appreciation of the audience and listening music industry professionals. The Awards will be held late in the year 2025, with the precise date to be announced and posted on the ASA’s website homepage closer to the night.
10. PRIZES - Prizes may be varied without compensation, at the discretion of the Sponsor or the ASA. Any physical prizes not collected by winner or their representative at the National Songwriting Awards, will be shipped at the entrant’s expense. In the event of a tied result, prizes are also split as fairly as possible, with the ASA Board making the final decision with no prolonged correspondence being entered into. The ASA is permitted to share email addresses of Prize Winners with sponsors so that direct correspondence can be entered into, unless specifically instructed not to do so by email to the National Office.
11. NUMBER OF ENTRIES - There is no limit to the number of entries that may be submitted.
12. ENTRIES IN MORE THAN ONE CATEGORY OR FROM A PREVIOUS YEAR - A single song can be entered into multiple categories, or into another year of the Contest. There are different judges for each category and they vary from year to year, so this means that a song may get through in one category or in one year when it may have missed out in another.
13. LYRICS - Lyrics do not need to be included except when they are going to be entered into the actual stand-alone Lyrics Category.
14. ACCURACY - Accuracy of entry information is entirely the responsibility of the entrant. The ASA cannot be held responsible for omissions or mistakes, and entrant miscalculations in payments will not be refunded.
15. FEEDBACK SERVICE - For a fee of $35 for ASA Members and $39 for Non-members, this service is offered to entrants who would like to have written feedback on their work from a professional evaluator. The evaluations are separate to the judging process. Feedback critiques will not be commenced until after the final results are announced. This rule is in place in order to ensure that no judges, who may also be used for the Contest judging, become unfairly familiar with the works prior to the Contest results being decided.
16. PRACTICALITIES - Songs need to be submitted in accordance with the digital requirements described by the online entry platforms. Any entrants unable to use this technology may request a Manual Entry Form by emailing asanationaloffice@asai.org.au, so that their songs can be submitted on CD or USB stick. There is an additional charge for manual entries due to the extra handling required.
17. USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) - The ASA and this competition aim to support, encourage and salute the creativity of original songwriters, and although some AI and other electronic means may be used in the production side of things, the actual initial tune and all lyrics must come from the bona-fide imagination of human songwriters' own thoughts and minds. Anyone attempting to thwart this rule will be defeating the purpose of the Contest, and earn themselves nothing but disrespect.

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