As part of Barleycorn’s mission to promote & present the best local, original music in Cape Town, South Africa, we are once again calling all singer-songwriters to enter a song or two into our annual Barleycorn Songwriters' Competition. Keep an eye out on our Facebook & Instagram pages for prize details and further announcements! 

The 2024 competition will stop accepting submissions at midnight on Sunday, 25th August 2024. 

The date for the Finals show, where we invite the artists of the top 10 best songs to perform them live for the very first time, will be around the end of September 2024.

It is of note that this is a songwriting competition, and not a performing or singing competition.

TO ENTER:

Please read the entry requirements and rules below, and email your entry in before midnight on Sunday, 25th August 2024. There is an entry fee of R25 per song.

There's always a surprisingly large number of songs, so to ensure an efficient process, kindly email your song entries as follows:

• • EMAIL TO:

    1. barleynews@gmail.com

    2. With the subject "BSC24" + Stage Name (of artist / group).

  • PLEASE ATTACH:

    1. Entry song(s) in a commonly used format (e.g. mp3, mp4, wav, m4a, etc.).

    2. Song lyric(s) in a commonly used format (e.g. txt, pdf, docx, etc.).

    3. Proof of payment (of R25 or R50).

• PLEASE ALSO INCLUDE:

  • 1. Composer / artist / group member name(s).

    2. Cellphone contact number.

THE RULES:

• Each song entry must be entirely original and non-derivative.

• The song must not have been previously performed or shared in public, nor previously published or shared online, or any other public domain.

• Max of 2 songs may be entered per author / composer / group (there may be more than one author on a song).

• For the Finals show, to put an emphasis on songwriting, there may be no more than 2 performers on the stage. Each performer can use at most 1 instrument and 1 vocal mic.

• If a solo artist reaches the Finals and wishes to use a backing track, the artist is required to play the lead instrument live and sing the lead vocals live, with the backing track containing no more than 1 extra instrument and 1 backing vocal.

• Recordings sent in for the pre-judging do not need to be professional. Should you send in a recording done with a full band or digital music please note the above 2 rules.

• All official South African languages are accepted.

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

1. EFT – please attach Proof of Payment to your email entry. Banking details are below.

2. CASH or CARD – please do so on Monday evenings at the door at our shows. Please request a receipt for your payment stating it is an entry fee and attach said receipt to your email entry.

BANKING / EFT DETAILS:

• Bank: First National Bank

• Account Name: Barleycorn Music Club

• Account Number: 627 513 91500

• Branch Code: 200409

• Reference: "BSC24" + Stage Name

THE PRE-JUDGING:

• Once the submission deadline has passed and all the song entries have been collected, the Barleycorn Committee will meet and pre-judge the songs and select the top 10 song entries to advance to the Finals (with an 11th finalist as backup).

• The judging criteria has been carefully curated with the consultation of the Cape Town School of Songwriting, and scores each song based on the content, structure, and composition of its music and lyrics.

• The artists of the Top 10 songs will be invited to play live at Barleycorn at the Finals show.

THE FINALS SHOW:

• The Top 10 songs, out of all the song submissions, are invited to play at the Finals, the date of which will be around the end of September.

• Should you make it through to the Finals, you will be notified at least one week in advance to perform your composition live at Barleycorn before a panel of invited judges, who are themselves singer-songwriters / musicians / composers. An 11th finalist will be notified in case one of the Top 10 is not available.

• The invited judges will be looking at the same criteria as the pre-judging, also recognising that this is a songwriting competition, and not a performing or singing competition.

• The judges' decision is final.