SILVER CITY, NM - There is one month remaining for Singer/Songwriters to submit their entries to a competition being held by The Southwestern Chapter of the ACLU of New Mexico. This competition is being held in connection with the organization's Annual Meeting, to be held on October 24, 2014. All accepted song entries will center on one theme, prison confinement. All entries must arrive by September 15, 2014.
Many songs have been written by hundreds of performers about being in jail. We are looking for expressions of the dehumanization in today's "built for profit" prisons, and the mass incarceration rate of this Nation. The inhumanity of extended periods of solitary confinement or isolation, as well as other civil liberties violations related to incarceration should be the emphasis of your entries as opposed to legitimate arrests for wrongdoing.
- This competition is open to all musicians in the "Border Regions" of West Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, who write and perform in any musical genre. There is a $150 cash prize for the winning entry, as well as cash awards for the other finalists. All submissions must be original compositions of the Artist/Performer (maximum of 2 entries per Artist/Performer).
- All entries are free, there are no entry fees.
- Entry will be made on an official entry form (contact William Hudson, at williamhudson43@msn.com).
- Entrants will submit a CD or taped recording of their entry (It need not be a professional recording, but should be clean enough that the listener can hear the melody and musical interpretation).
- Entrants will submit a written copy of the lyrics (so that the appropriate theme and poetic quality can be evaluated).
All entries must be mailed to: ACLU/Competition
C/o William Hudson
HC 71 Box 765
San Lorenzo, NM 88041
Entries will be evaluated by the judging panel on;
- How appropriate the song is relative to the theme
- Artistic lyrical styling, poetic interpretation
- Musical originality, styling
All entries must arrive no later than September 15, 2014. Finalists will be notified no later than September 28, 2014. Finalists need to be present at The Annual Meeting of the ACLU of New Mexico, Southwestern Chapter, in Silver City, NM, on Friday October 24, 2014. On that evening, the finalists will perform their entry live for our audience and judges for final selection of the winner.