The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in partnership with the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) will launch the Musical Theatre Songwriting Challenge again this year, offering high school students the opportunity to develop and showcase musical compositions that could be part of a musical.

This year, the initiative will offer even more resources and constructive critique opportunities for participating students to cultivate their songwriting skills, with online group coaching sessions, masterclasses, and more.

From now until December 4, students can submit an original song to be part of the 2023–2024 program. In early 2024, all students who submitted a song will receive constructive critique on their submissions from musical theatre songwriters. They will also have the opportunity to participate in online group coaching sessions and masterclasses. Following this, applicants will then have the opportunity to revise and submit their compositions once again to to a judging panel of leaders in the musical theatre industry. The judges will select the winning writers/writing teams, who will be invited to New York City in June 2024 to work directly with mentors on a concert performance of their song.

For more information, visit NAMT.org.