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Songwriting and Poetry Competition

Theme: Your Carleton Experience

With prizes in two categories: Poetry and Songwriting

Sign up by March 1 by filling out the form below. Submit your work by March 10, 2023.

What is this? A call for students to submit original poems and songs to encourage artistic engagement in the Carleton community.

Who can participate? Any student in any program registered at Carleton University in the 2023 Winter term. There is no fee to participate.

Are there prizes? Yes!

What should my poem or lyrics be about? Focus your creativity on one of the following topics: 

If I write music, what styles can I submit? Any style is accepted, any length or duration. Music can be with lyrics or instrumental. Music should be recorded in WAV or MP3 format. If there are lyrics, they need to be submitted on a separate PDF. If submitting instrumental music or a song without an obvious connection to the competition theme, you should also write an accompanying paragraph explaining how it relates to your Carleton experience. 

Who are the judges? Professionals in Creative Writing and Songwriting.

How will the submissions be assessed? Quality of artistic craft, relevance to theme, audience appeal; for music category only: vocal and/or instrumental performance standard (but recording quality is not an issue).

Can I write collaboratively? Yes, but all people on the team need to be Carleton students.

How many songs or poems can I submit? Each student may make one submission per category.

Can I submit if I miss the March 1 registration deadline? Although participation is not guaranteed after the deadline, you can inquire to see if the deadline has been extended for a specific category. 

Can I see and hear last year’s prize winners? A selection of excellent songs and poems from the 2021–22 competition are included in the Creative Reflections of the Student Experience Anthology and Soundtrack.

What else? Students who participate will be asked to give permission for us at the university to share their work (though the student creator retains copyright of their work).

Additional competition details will be sent to those who sign up.  

For more information, contact:
Dr. James McGowan (JamesMcGowan@cunet.carleton.ca)
School for Studies in Art and Culture (SSAC)
PLACE (Performative Learning and Artistic Communities of Engagement) Program Coordinator
University Chair in Teaching Innovation 

Please register below to enter the competition. Those who register will be added to a Brightspace (non-credit) course. Further information on the competition is provided on Brightspace.