The John Lennon Scholarships are an annual competition open to student songwriters and composers of contemporary musical genres including alternative, pop, rock, indie, electronica, R&B, and experimental. Over the past twenty years, more than $400,000 in scholarships has been awarded to talented young musicians from colleges and universities throughout the United States, making this award one of the nation’s most esteemed accolades for emerging songwriters.
Applicants must be current student or alumnus/alumna at a U.S. college or university between the ages of 17 and 24 as of the submission deadline. No rights to the submitted work may have been assigned to a major music publisher or to a major record label. Applicants must not be a prior BMI Foundation John Lennon Scholarship winner (excluding Honorable Mentions). Note: John Lennon Scholarship entrants who are also applying for the Nashville Songwriting Scholarship must submit different songs for each contest. Dual applicants may not submit the same original work to both competitions.
