So the UK thinks I’m a decent songwriter… maybe borderline good. A couple of months ago I entered 7 songs in the Adult Contemporary category of the UK Songwriting Contest. This was my first songwriting contest ever. Why so many songs? I wanted to see if there was consistency in my writing. Well… out of a max score of 10, four of my songs got a 6 (Fairy Tale, Helen, Losing, and Quality) and the other three got a 7 (Hook Me, Miss You So, Shouldn’t it Be You). Here’s how they explained their scoring system.
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EXPLANATION OF THE JUDGES’ SCORING
Most songs receive a score of either 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7. Very few songs will receive a low score of 1 or 2 and very few will receive a high score of 8 or 9. The score of 10 is not used during the judging and is reserved for the winning song in each category.
A score of 1 or 2 indicates that your song was considered to be poorly written in comparison to other songs in the contest. It indicates that in the judges opinion the song needs either almost complete re writing or, especially in the case of a score of 1, abandoning.
A score of 3 indicates that this is an acceptable composition and that it follows the accepted standards of song form, presentation, melody, metre etc. Although the song would almost certainly benefit from re working and re writing it clearly shows songwriting ability and talent.
A score of 4 or 5 indicates that this is a good song and it will receive a Commended Entry Certificate. A score of 5 indicates that the song very nearly made the semi finals. All songs with a score of 4 and 5 are considered for the semi finals.
A score of 6 or 7 indicates that the song made the semi finals panels and is one of the stronger songs in the contest. All these semi finalist songs are considered by the selection panels for the finals and a score of 7 indicates that the song was a borderline finalist and almost made it through to the finals.
Songs with a score of 8 or 9 are finalists and are all considered for the winning and runner up positions. All runners up have a score of 9 and these few high scoring songs are all very carefully considered for the winning position in their respective categories. The winning songs in each category receive a score of 10.
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So there you have it. I was a semi-finalist. If you’re curious, here’s a link to the winning song entitled “What Am I Supposed to Do”.
K