8th Annual Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Awards is Accepting Applications; Finalists Will Perform Their Songs at Bethesda Concert For a $10,000 Grand Prize

The eighth annual Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Awards is searching for the best songwriters in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The competition, founded by Cathy Bernard, is named in honor of Fred Ebb, one of the great American songwriters and creator of Broadway hits such as Cabaret and Chicago and iconic songs including New York, New York. Applicants must submit three original songs. Each song must have lyrics. Therefore, instrumental compositions are not accepted. All genres are accepted. Maximum song length is 4:30 min.

The contest will be a multi-staged, adjudicated competition. Jurors will include professional artists, venue operators, booking agents and music academia. The jury will select the finalists who will perform their original songs during a concert in Bethesda, Maryland on Friday, April 1, 2022 at the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Club. Each finalist will perform two of the songs they submitted for the competition. The Grand Prize Jury will attend the concert to select the winners. The winning songwriter and young songwriter will be announced at the close of the show. Judging criteria below:

• Composition
• Lyrics
• Originality
• Melody/Harmony

The adjudicated contest will award one talented songwriter a Grand Prize of $10,000. The Grand Prize Winner will also be awarded 25 hours of recording studio time and 2 hours of music business strategy consulting with Dave Mallen at Innovation Station Music in Annandale, VA. As one of the area’s top Music Producers, Dave has a particular focus on song and artist development, and will guide the contest winner through his highly personalized and collaborative approach to music creation. A young songwriter who is 17 or younger will also be honored with $2,500. (*Please see alternate application form for Young Songwriter entries.)

Adult Songwriter Application: Apply Here

Young Songwriter Application: Apply Here

ABOUT: Cathy Bernard is the President of HCM Corporation, a real estate management and investment firm. She serves on the Board of Directors at Signature Theatre, Round House Theatre, Imagination Stage and Strathmore. She is also the President of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District Board of Directors. Bernard has been named to the Top 100 Women in Maryland in 2006, 2008 and 2010. She was also named to the Top 25 Women in Business in Montgomery County in 2008, and received the County Executive Volunteer Award in 2004. The Bernard Family Foundation provides grants to organizations in the arts, education and cancer advocacy programs. Bernard is the niece of Fred Ebb and lives in Bethesda, MD with her two children.

Fred Ebb began his career in songwriting in 1953 when he was asked by Columbia Records to write a song for Judy Garland. In 1966, Ebb and partner John Kander’s collaboration Cabaret, opened and received seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Score. In 1972, the songwriting team wrote a number of songs for Minnelli’s television special Liza With a Z, which received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Program – Variety or Popular Music. In 1975, the two wrote the Broadway musical Chicago, directed by Bob Fosse and starring Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera and Jerry Orbach. Their other musicals include The Happy Time, Zorba, The Act, Woman of the Year, Kiss of the Spider Woman, among others. Ebb has also worked with Shirley MacLaine, Lauren Bacall and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

In addition to their significant Broadway contributions Ebb and Kander also collaborated with Martin Scorcese on the movie, New York, New York for which they wrote the iconic theme song by the same name. The song, first introduced by Liza Minnelli in the movie, was later recorded by Frank Sinatra and became an American classic. Ebb was a Tony, Grammy, Emmy, Olivier and Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award winning recipient. He passed away in September 2004.

Courtesy of Bethesda Urban Partnership