The Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge, presented by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT), invites high school students nationwide to write an original song that could be part of a musical (the musical does not have to be written). A submission is one song! Applications are now open, and the Draft 1 deadline is February 2, 2026.
Challenge is first and foremost an education program. A series of free, online workshops led by professional musical theatre writers are open to all high school students. The next workshop is on Monday, November 17: Recipe for Songwriting: Lyric Structure.
ALL Draft 1 submissions receive professional feedback. Students then incorporate the Draft 1 feedback into their Draft 2 submissions. This is the competitive round, with the winning songwriters invited to Winners Weekend in NYC in June!
Learn more at namt.org/challenge.
Betsy King Militello
Executive Director
National Alliance for Musical Theatre
520 Eighth Avenue, Suite 301
New York, NY 10018
betsy@namt.org
212.714.6668 x11
namt.org