Send in your song for the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest

Update 2024-03-30: Excerpt from the Rules.

Hahira, Georgia, March 29, 2024 — On April First, really, no fooling, submissions are open for the 2024 Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.

WWALS President Sara Jay Jones said, “Musicians, don’t wait until the deadline to send in your song. Also, we could use more volunteers to help at the show and committee members to help plan it.”

The Seventh Annual Finals will be held at the WWALS River Revue, an indoor fundraising dinner to benefit WWALS Watershed Coalition, with an evening of food, drink, and entertainment. That’s 5-8 PM, Saturday, September 7, 2024, at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia.

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman said, “Your ticket or sponsorship helps support everything WWALS does, from water quality tests, paddle outings and swimming & boating lessons, to chainsaw cleanups, and beyond to advocacy to stop trash at its sources, strip mines, and pipelines. We work for water trails, solar power, and Right to Clean Water, with growing engagement for youth and marginalized communities.”

[Song Submissions Open, No Fooling, April 1, 2024, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, Finals: Turner Arts Center, Valdosta, GA]
Song Submissions Open, No Fooling, April 1, 2024, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, Finals: Turner Arts Center, Valdosta, GA

There will be plaques for each best song per genre, prizes of $50 each for best song sent in from inside and from outside the Suwannee River Basin, and a $300 First Prize. All finalists get videos posted on YouTube, and a one year WWALS membership.

Here’s the entry form:
https://forms.gle/ett6ne6DxMc8Ln897

Follow this link for tickets, sponsorship opportunities, and more:
https://wwals.net/pictures/songwriting2024

Update 2024-03-30: Excerpt from the Rules,

  1. Once the submissions are received, the WWALS Songwriting Contest Committee (Committee) selects finalists from the entrants using criteria including:
    1. The song must be about one or more of the Suwannee or its tributaries the Little, Black, or Gopher, the Withlacoochee or its tributaries the Little or New, the Alapaha or its tributaries the Alapahoochee, Willacoochee, Little, Alapaha, or Dead, or other Rivers, creeks, springs, sinks, swamps, or ponds in the Suwannee River Basin or Estuary.
    2. Not about the Santa Fe River or waterbodies in that sub-basin, because there’s another contest for that.
    3. Avoid proselytizing religion.
    4. Avoid partisan politics or specific candidates, but issues are OK.
    5. Avoid things that don’t exist in the Basin or Estuary (no crocodiles; no flamingos).
    6. Explicit lyrics (vulgar or violent) will not be accepted.
    7. Any judge who is also a member of the Committee shall not vote on selection of finalists, so as to avoid even any appearance of any conflict of interest.

About WWALS: Since June 2012, WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS) is an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity working for a healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.

Mission: WWALS advocates for conservation and stewardship of the surface waters and groundwater of the Suwannee River Basin and Estuary, in south Georgia and north Florida, among them the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, Santa Fe, and Suwannee River watersheds, through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.

Our Watershed: The 10,000-square-mile WWALS territory includes the Suwannee River from the Okefenokee Swamp to the Gulf of Mexico, plus the Suwannee River Estuary, and tributaries such as the Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers as far north as Cordele in Georgia, as well as parts of the Floridan Aquifer— the primary water source for drinking, agriculture, and industry for millions of Georgia and Florida residents.

Suwannee Riverkeeper: Since December 2016, WWALS is the WATERKEEPER® Alliance Member for the Suwannee River Basin and Estuary as Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®, which is a project and a staff position of WWALS focusing on our advocacy.

Contact: John S. Quarterman
song@suwanneeriverkeeper.org
850-290-2350

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