Lipscomb’s annual Songwriting Contest has gone global

The contest serves to empower and inspire the next generation of songwriters.

Courtney Grable  | 06/26/2023

As part of Lipscomb’s long-standing commitment to discovering the next generation of songwriters and investing in their creative endeavors, Jeff McPherson, assistant professor in the George Shinn College of Entertainment & the Arts (CEA), created the Lipscomb School of Music Songwriting Contest in 2019. Just four years later, the contest has gone global with “people from Europe and Greece and different places around the world” submitting entries, said McPherson.

“One of the challenges that songwriters face is never receiving decent feedback,” said McPherson. “They’re making interesting things, but have never had the tools to look at things technically, which is the craft of songwriting.” 

Without constructive feedback, songwriters often are not able to develop their craft to the best of their ability. “I write some kind of feedback for every single student that turns in a song. The goal is to offer and supply them with feedback that goes beyond more than the surface aspect of it,” describes McPherson.

A critique from McPherson is no small thing for a young artist. McPherson has worked more than 30 years in the music industry. Early in his career, he was signed as a songwriter to Hot House Music where he provided the score for two Playstation games and wrote extensively for Audio Media, Keyboard Magazine and ProSound News. 

His manufacturing representative firm, TechRep Marketing, worked with brands like Sennheiser, Neumann, Universal Audio, Emagic, Steinberg, QSC, Softube and Genelec. 

Several music industry veterans and Lipscomb faculty join McPherson in judging the songwriting competition, including:

Steve Taylor, Lipscomb assistant professor in the CEA, earned the title “Renaissance Man” from Prism Magazine. He has sold over one million albums worldwide, headlined four international tours and earned multiple Grammy, Billboard, Telly, Addy and Dove awards and nominations. Taylor’s resume as a record producer includes the platinum-certified Sixpence None the Richer and three gold-certified albums for the Newsboys, with all four albums earning Grammy nominations.

Randy Gill, Lipscomb associate professor and assistant dean in the CEA, is a nationally recognized worship leader and musician. He has a career in higher education, music and worship ministry that spans more than 40 years. He founded the popular singing group Won by One at Pepperdine University, as well as Lipscomb University’s Sanctuary vocal group.

Don Chaffer, Lipscomb artist-in-residence in the CEA, has released over 25 albums as a recording artist, has produced over 75 albums as a record producer and was a songwriter on dozens of albums. He has worked alongside artists such as Third Day, Big Daddy Weave, Chasen and Christopher Williams. Additionally, he is the winner of numerous awards including two American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) awards and a Radio and Records Song of the Year Award and was a Yale Institute for Musical Theater Finalist in 2011. 

The contest is open to all songwriters and/or co-writers that are between the ages of 13 and 19 and have not begun courses at a university. Songwriters submit one song 2-6 minutes in length along with a lyric sheet to be judged for the contest. The winner receives a small package of personal studio equipment.

The winner of this year’s Lipscomb School of Music Songwriting Contest is Seven Finckel, 17, who wrote “Stuck My Tongue Out At the Moon.”  Finkel is currently a junior at The Beacon School in New York City and is the lead singer and guitarist of the band Electric Dickinson.

Finalists this year are Lydia Smith with her song “Rag Doll” , Vicky Gao with her song “Little Ghost Inside My Head” and Titus Thomas and Jazzmen Mendoza with the song “Looking At Me”. 

Additional finalists include Emma Jo with her song “Fool”, and Cami Walsh with her song “Hopeless Romantics.” Learn more about all the finalists and hear their songs here.

Interested in participating in 2024’s contest? Apply here. The deadline for submissions is February 1, 2024. Finalists will be announced by March 1, 2024 and the winner will be announced on March 30, 2024.