Entries Now Open For 2015 Jamaica Festival Song Competition

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), an agency of the Ministry of Youth and Culture, is now accepting entries for the 2015 Jamaica Festival Song Competition. The Competition will seek to select a song to drive the Independence Celebrations. The song should primarily capture the spirit and the essence of the festivities and be popular with the people with the quality to live on beyond the Independence period.

According to David Reid, the Festival Song Competition Coordinator “the songs submitted should be inspirational, uplifting and catchy in lyrics and have an upbeat rhythm from any of the genres of Jamaican Music.” He also stated that the entries will be assessed at two levels by panels of top music industry personnel with a good mix of youth and experience that will select the Top 10 Songs.

The Festival Song Competition which is one of the oldest song competition in Jamaica saw a burst of youthful zest last year with an increase in the number of entries from young persons.  It was indeed “A New Day” for the competition when Dancehall recording artist Deep Jahi was announced the winner with his song entitled “I Love Ja”. This has set the platform to attract increased participation with improved standards so as to maximize on the economic potentials available through the cultural product we unearth and develop. There are over a million dollars in cash and other prizes to be won.

The deadline for entry is Friday, February 27, 2015 and entry forms and guidelines are available on the JCDC website: www.jcdc.gov.jm and all the JCDC Parish offices islandwide. The competition is open to Jamaican citizens and all other persons residing in Jamaica for a period of not less than two years prior to the closing date of entry for the competition.
 
Entry form should be submitted to the JCDC Head Office at 3-5 Phoenix Avenue, Kingston 10, or any of the parish offices islandwide. Entries must include a completed application form with an original signature, a non-refundable entry fee of J$1000, typed lyric sheets and a CD containing the song. The duration of the song should be no more than four minutes.