Mar. 13, 2026
Hello Songwriters!
We will be having our annual CHAPTER CHALLENGE on Wednesday, April 15 at 7pm. This is always an exciting event and we will be meeting in person! NSAI members in Local Chapters across the globe have an opportunity to submit 1 (one) pre-recorded song to their local Chapter ahead of time for this challenge. Participants must be a current NSAI member and “affiliated” with the NYC Chapter. (“Affiliated” means you have joined a Local NSAI Chapter and receive information and participate in that Chapter’s activities.)
Wednesday, April 15, 7-9:30pm
Houghton Hall
22 East 30th Street
New York City
The coordinators will PLAY the songs at the meeting - they must be pre-submitted to the NSAI website via the link below.
** FILL OUT THE ENTIRE FORM (LINK BELOW) AND UPLOAD YOUR SONG TO HAVE YOUR SONG PLAYED. THIS MUST BE DONE BY MIDNIGHT THE DAY BEFORE THE CHALLENGE:
https://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/form/song-submission-consent-form?chapter=52
Please bring at least 15 copies of your lyrics to share with the group. We also suggest you bring a PEN & PAPER so you can write down the writer's names and titles to help make your decision as YOU will be voting.
We will listen to all submissions and each member (other than the coordinators) will vote on the song they think should make it to Round 2 of the Chapter Challenge. The song that receives the most votes will be forwarded to NSAI Nashville where a committee will listen to all song submission "winners" and they will vote and select the top 20 submissions. The grand prize winners will be announced. There are exciting prizes including a curated Music Row experience exclusively customized for each winning writer, a round-trip flight voucher to Nashville, a 2-night stay at a Nashville hotel, and more. The twenty finalists will also win prizes including an online pitch with a Music Row Publisher, in-depth song feedback and more.
ENTRY RULES
- No live performances will be accepted
- The recording of your song does not have to be a full demo. Simple work tapes with guitar/piano and vocals are fine.
- Songs cannot be co-written with a professional songwriter.
- Songs under/pending contract are not eligible for submission.
- AI MUST NOT be used in the creation of the Song (melody) or Lyric of the submission to be eligible. Song submission must be the original work of the Songwriter without use of any artificial intelligence, and must not infringe upon the copyrights, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity or be otherwise contrary to applicable laws and regulations.
- NSAI members in Local Chapters can submit one song at one local Chapter meeting. Multiple submissions will result in disqualification.
- Members cannot vote for their own song submission.
- Non-members cannot vote for or submit a song in the competition.
- Voting must happen at the Chapter meeting -- NO EXCEPTIONS.
Please click for more info on the challenge: https://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/2026-chapter-challenge
