August 27, 2025 (Nashville, Tenn.) – – On September 1, 2025, the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) will begin accepting submissions for their annual Song Contest, now in its 26th annual year. Beginning at 12:00 p.m. Central, songwriters have two months to submit their best songs and/or lyrics for a chance to win some incredible prizes! This year's contest will award over $37,000 worth of prizes amongst a total of 13 songwriters who either win or are deemed runners-up in the contest. Grand Prize Winners will walk away with one of two cash prizes ($5,000 and $2,500), a complete Home Studio Recording Package from Custom House at Guitar Center, plus $1,500 towards a Guitar Center purchase courtesy of the Guitar Center Music Foundation, a Taylor Guitars Gold Label 517e guitar, a mentor session with either Ashley McBryde or Rivers Rutherford, a one-year single-song publishing contract with BMG, a pair of tickets to 9th annual Nashville Songwriter Awards in 2026, a personalized Music Row Experience, prizes from Musicnotes and the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp, custom capos from G7th The Capo Company, industry meetings, an experience at The Bluebird Cafe and even a chance to participate in a Group Mentor Session with hit songwriter Josh Osborne!.
2025 NSAI Song Category Mentor Ashley McBryde (photo credit: Katie Krauss) and Lyric Category Mentor Rivers Rutherford (photo courtesy of Rivers Rutherford).
In addition to more prizes than ever for the Grand Prize winners and runners-up, every entrant in the contest will receive a credit for a NSAI Song Evaluation (value of $25) good to use for any song of their choosing, as well as their scorecard report from each entry. The contest welcomes and encourages songwriters of all genres to submit their songs and or lyrics at www.nsaisongcontest.com from September 1, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. to October 31, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. CT.
The judging process has four phases, beginning with an evaluation of each individual entry by an industry professional who will submit scores of 1-10 for each question on the judging questionnaire. The highest scoring songs and lyrics from each judge will move forward to the next rounds for their chance to win big! Up to 13 entries will place in the contest over the next 3 phases of judging, which will conclude with a live-taped final judging where the Lyric Category Grand Prize winner and runners-up will be announced, and the Song Category Top 10 finalists will be judged for the final time before determining the Song Category Grand Prize Winner. Judging will take place no later than February 2026. Up to 10 additional entries will be recognized as Honorable Mentions in the contest.
The Song Category Grand Prize Winner will collect $5,000 CASH, a one-on-one mentor session with GRAMMY, ACM, and CMA Award winner Ashley McBryde, and will be offered a ONE-YEAR SINGLE-SONG CONTRACT WITH BMG. They will also receive a brand new Taylor Guitars Gold Label 517e guitar, a complete Home Studio Recording Package from Custom House at Guitar Center and a visit to their showroom, $1,500 towards a purchase at Guitar Center (courtesy of Guitar Center Music Foundation), tickets to the 2026 Nashville Songwriter Awards, and performance opportunities at The Bluebird Cafe and the 2026 Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival. In addition, the prize pack for the Song Category Grand Prize Winner will include a personalized Music Row Experience, which includes industry meetings, round-trip air travel to Nashville on Southwest Airlines®, and a 3-night stay at Motif on Music Row, dinner with the Executive Director of NSAI and (2) complimentary tickets to attend a show at the legendary Bluebird Cafe. Other prizes include a visit with a Pro Writer for a Song Breakdown of how they wrote their hit, the opportunity to turn the winning song into sheet music courtesy of Musicnotes (with the option to make it available for sale at musicnotes.com) along with a $100 Musicnotes gift card and an engraved plaque of the first page of the sheet music transcription, a set of 3 capos from G7th The Capo Company (with custom engraving opportunity), an additional round-trip flight via Southwest Airlines®, a $250 Gift Card and Music City VIP Star Card courtesy of Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp, and more!
The Lyric Category Grand Prize Winner will receive $2,500 CASH, a mentoring session with Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame hit songwriter, RIVERS RUTHERFORD, as well as a brand new Taylor Guitars Gold Label 517e guitar, a $2,500+ complete Home Studio Recording Package from Custom House at Guitar Center and a visit to their Showroom, a meeting with BMG, $1,500 towards a purchase at Guitar Center (courtesy of the Guitar Center Music Foundation), and tickets to the 2026 Nashville Songwriter Awards. In addition, the prize pack for the Lyric Category Grand Prize Winner will include a personalized Music Row Experience, which includesindustry meetings, round-trip air travel to Nashville on Southwest Airlines®, and a 3-night stay at Motif on Music Row, dinner with the Executive Director of NSAI and (2) complimentary tickets to attend a show at the legendary Bluebird Cafe. Other prizes include an engraved plaque with a transcription of the winning lyrics anda $100 gift card from Musicnotes, a set of 3 capos from G7th The Capo Company (with custom engraving opportunity), an additional round-trip flight via Southwest Airlines, a $250 Gift Card and Music City VIP Star Card courtesy of Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp, and more!
Song Category and Lyric Category runners-up will each receive a publisher meeting with BMG, Dream 3 Publishing, or Black River Entertainment, one year of membership to NSAI, the opportunity to participate in a group mentor session with Josh Osborne, a custom engraved G7th “Nashville” Capo, a $25 Southwest Airlines Gift Card, a $50 Musicnotes Gift Card, and a Music City VIP Star Card!
All eligible submissions received by NSAI between September 1, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. Central through October 31, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Central, will be judged in their respective categories by music industry professionals who will give the song a numerical score based on a questionnaire scorecard. Entries scoring in the top 8% from each first round judge will advance to the second round for another review by teams of industry professionals, and in the third round of judging, a panel will determine up to ten (10) finalists and up to ten (10) honorable mentions for the Song Category, three (3) Lyric Category finalists will be determined, and then the Lyric Category Grand Prize Winner and runner-up will be selected. By January 2026, the top finalists for the Song Category will be judged in a live-taped event, where a panel of elite music industry professionals will score each submission from 1-10, with the highest combined score receiving the Song Category Grand Prize!
Entries may be submitted online at www.nsaisongcontest.com. The fees to enter $35 per song or lyric entry for current NSAI members and $45 per song or lyric entry for the general public. There is no limit to the number of songs or lyrics that songwriters can submit, and the submission portal closes at 5:00 p.m. Central on October 31, 2025.
For further details, including additional information on submitting songs and/or lyrics, an official full list of prizes, the Terms and Conditions and contest updates, visit www.nsaisongcontest.com. Updates will also be posted on NSAI's official Facebook, Instagram, and X accounts (@NSAIOfficial).
A special thank you to our partners who help make NSAI's Song Contest possible: BMG, Taylor Guitars, Custom House at Guitar Center, Guitar Center Music Foundation, The Bluebird Cafe, Southwest Airlines®, G7th The Capo Company, Musicnotes, Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp, ASCAP, BMI, Black River Entertainment, Dream 3 Publishing, Lamar Advertising, and Motif on Music Row.
About Ashley McBryde
GRAMMY, CMA and ACM award winner Ashley McBryde cut her teeth playing country songs in biker bars – and it shows. The Grand Ole Opry member's 2018 major label debut Girl Going Nowhere (Warner Music Nashville) charmed The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, Paste, The Washington Post and more, all en route to landing a GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Album. McBryde closed out 2019 with ACM New Female Artist, CMT Breakout Artist, a New Artist of the Year win at the 53rd Annual CMA Awards and two nominations for the 2020 GRAMMYs for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance for “Girl Goin' Nowhere.” Follow-up Never Will was tagged by Rolling Stone as one of the most anticipated of the year alongside NPR, who also ranked her Top 10 RIAA Platinum-Certified single “One Night Standards” as one of the best songs of 2019. The album earned McBryde a 2021 GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Album, making Never Will the only album nominated for Country Album of the Year by the ACMs, CMAs and the Recording Academy in the same award season. Her GRAMMY-winning duet with Carly Pearce, “Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” went all the way to No. 1 and earned McBryde and Pearce the ACM and CMA award for Musical Event of the Year. McBryde was honored with the 2022 CMA International Artist Achievement Award for the most significant creative growth, development and promotion of the country music industry outside of the United States. Her collaborative project Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville earned McBryde her third consecutive GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Album, making her a six-time nominee. Her latest album The Devil I Know was released to critical acclaim, earning a title as one of the best country albums of the year from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Slate, PASTE, Holler and more. McBryde offers poetic nostalgia with her latest release, “Ain't Enough Cowboy Songs,” with Billboard observing, “her voice, as always, rings with an earthy authenticity and earnestness,” while Stereogum asserts “she's one of the best we've got.” The Arkansas native joins Cody Johnson's Leather Deluxe Tour through spring 2025 among festival performances at Country Thunder Arizona, Stagecoach and WE Fest. For more information, visit AshleyMcBryde.com or follow her Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok and YouTube.
About Rivers Rutherford
With a name like Rivers Rutherford, it's no surprise this soulful storyteller and recent Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Famer was destined to become one of music's most talented and accomplished singer-songwriters. Having grown up in the shadow of Elvis' Graceland homestead in Memphis, Rutherford came out of the gates swinging at 21 years old, landing his first cut with American legends Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson (aka The Highwaymen). What followed were a dozen #1 hits, multiple Grammys, CMA and ACM nominations, and over 20 ASCAP awards, including both of the coveted awards for Country Song Of The Year and Songwriter Of The Year, all of which have firmly established Rutherford's position within the upper echelon of Nashville's most lauded songwriters.
You'll see Rivers' name on #1 songs by Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton (for the stunning and Grammy-nominated duet "When I Get Where I'm Going"), Rodney Atkins, Montgomery Gentry, Gretchen Wilson, Trace Atkins, and Brooks & Dunn—penning the duo's most successful single ever "Ain't Nothin' 'Bout You, which spent 6 weeks at #1 and won both Billboard's and ASCAP'S Song Of The Year. Rivers has also enjoyed success with Country giants the likes of Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Reba McEntire, George Jones, Toby Keith, Faith Hill, Hank Williams Jr., Gary Allan, and hosts of others.
Known for his gritty southern style, Rutherford is unapologetic about his faith, devotion to his family, and making great music. His decades long career, the countless hits to his credit and his ability to write music that is timeless is a testament to a man that has come to be respected as an artist in his own right.
Currently signed to Verse 2 Music (a Sony Music Publishing joint venture helmed by Kane Brown and Kent Earls), Rivers continues to write with and for the biggest names in country music. He's also returned to his early troubadour roots and maintains a rigorous touring schedule (over 50 dates a year), bringing his rip-roaring brand of no-holds-barred entertainment to audiences all over the world who come to hear his familiar hits straight from the source. With a persona that is at once direct, raw, and impassioned, Rivers possesses the shrewd skills of a storyteller who is capable of cutting right to the heart of the matter—a trait that leaves his talent both unique and timeless.
About Nashville Songwriters Association International
The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) is the world's largest not-for-profit songwriters trade association. Established in 1967, the membership of more than 5,000 active and professional members spans the United States and foreign countries. NSAI, with nearly 100 chapters, is dedicated to protecting the rights of and serving aspiring and professional songwriters in all genres of music. NSAI has been responsible for many advocacy advances for songwriters including its work on the Music Modernization Act and creation of the MLC, creating the first group copyright infringement insurance for songwriters, passing the landmark Songwriter Capital Gains Tax Equity Act and owns The Bluebird Cafe.
