The finalists for the 2018 Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge convened in New York to participate in a weekend of workshops with musicians, singers, songwriters, and producers. The weekend ended with a live-streamed performance of the six songs, judged by a panel of musical theatre professionals on April 23. The competition received over 200 applications from high school composers in 36 states.
The finalists (five individual composers and one pair) will each have their songs published by Samuel French, and the national champion received a $25,000 scholarship courtesy of the National Music Publishers Association’s S.O.N.G.S. (Supporting Our Next Generation of Songwriters) Foundation.
Taking home the first place prize was David Volpini (2019) of Chippewa Valley High School in Macomb, Michigan. In second place were Eliza Corrington (class of 2018) and Braxton Gerald Carr (2019) of DaVinci Academy in Ogden, Utah. In third place was Tucker Donelan (2018) of Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts.
Partnering with the NEA on the second annual competition are the American Theatre Wing, Disney Theatrical Productions, Samuel French, Inc and Playbill.