For the second consecutive year, CT Folk is sponsoring a songwriting competition as part of the organization’s Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo.
“The quality of the submissions last year was extraordinary,” said CT Folk Director Alice-Anne Harwood.
Harwood said CT Folk received about 80 submissions for last year’s songwriters competition, the winner of which was Massachusetts-based artist Sam Chase.
The winner of this year’s competition, the deadline for which is Monday, will earn a $150 award and will perform two original songs at a Sept. 10 Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo concert program featuring Leo Kottke.
The songwriters competition is open to artists everywhere, provided they can participate in the finals, which will take place during the Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo in September. And while artists from beyond Connecticut’s borders are eligible to enter the competition, Harwood said “it would be fantastic to have more Connecticut artists represented in those finals, and that means more Connecticut artists need to submit.”
Harwood believes it would be a feather in a local songwriter’s cap to be able to say, “Hey, I opened for Leo Kottke.”
Connecticut-based songwriter Brian Dolzani, who was a finalist in last year’s competition, is among the artists scheduled to perform during this year’s Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo, which will take place September 9 – 11, in Edgerton Park. The lineup for the Saturday, Sept. 10, showcase concert, at which this year’s competition winner will perform, includes Too Blue, Vance Gilbert, Nerrisa and Katryna Nields, and Kottke.
Songwriters competition submission details can be found at Sonicbids.
The deadline for submissions, as mentioned above, is Monday, Aug. 15. Finalists will receive notification by Sept. 1.