Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge

An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in partnership with the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT), the Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge is opportunity for high school students to develop and showcase musical compositions that could be a part of a musical theater production.

The 2024-2025 Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge is held in collaboration with Concord Theatricals, Disney Theatrical Productions, and NMPA S.O.N.G.S. Foundation.

Learn more about how to participate at namt.org/challenge.

2024-2025 Challenge

The 2024-2025 Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge kicked off last fall. Throughout the winter, students had access to online masterclasses and coaching sessions, among other educational resources. Students submitted a draft of their songs and received personalized feedback from successful musical theater artists, musicians, administrators, and educators. Students then revised their songs before entering their compositions for final judging. Overall, 90 submissions were received by students from 27 states.

See excerpts of the winning song submissions and more information about the winners

2025 Events

Winning students will come to New York City this June where they will work with mentors and musicians to hone their orchestrations while learning about process, technique, and production. The final compositions will be performed by Broadway artists in a concert on Monday, June 16, at 7:30 p.m. ET, available to watch live and on-demand at arts.gov/songwriting and namt.org/challenge. In addition, each winning student will receive a scholarship of $2,500, provided by the NMPA S.O.N.G.S. Foundation.

The Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge began as a pilot program in 2016 in three cities (Dallas, TX; Minneapolis, MN, Seattle, WA) before going national in 2017/2018. We invite you to check out the final songs from our previous years' winners from the 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2016 competitions.