Song Writing Contest
Music connects us and a song with great lyrics can truly open our hearts & touch our souls. If you have an original song, please enter it in the third annual Music for Humanity songwriting contest here. This is a songwriting contest so production will not be considered. A phone recording is fine as long as it is clear. All genres are welcome. Songs will be judged based on Melody, Lyrics, Song Structure, and Overall Originality.
You can enter the song here. Each entry is only $25. We’ll award $1,000 for the best song and $500 for the runner-up, plus five honorable mentions at our free monthly concert series at Noble Coffee Roasters in Campbell Hall NY on Saturday night December 20, 2025.
The best song winner will also be interviewed in 2025 on John Burton’s award-winning show “Home from Here.” The deadline to apply is Wednesday, November 26, 2025 at Midnight. To be reminded please sign up for our email list here: http://eepurl.com/N5BJD
Our three judges: Mike Borok, Sharon Klein, and Neil Okeson together, have hundreds of songs to their credit including some award winners. They are volunteering their time. By entering your song, you agree that their decision will be final and there is no appeal.
See & hear the winning entries/lyrics and the honorable mentions from 2024 and 2023 by clicking each year’s link. Best of luck to you!!
Your 3 Judges
Mike Borok
Mike Borok is a singer/songwriter from New York’s Hudson Valley. He performs and records with the duo New Middle Class. They’ve released four albums and have been featured on several collections including Fast Folk, The Folk Next Door, Oasis Humor and Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest Winners.
Mike was the 1st place winner of the 2024 Music For Humanity Songwriting Contest, and grand prizewinner of the Music For Life contest at the Kerrville Folk Festival. He was selected for the 2023 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artists Showcase and has been finalist or semi-finalist in national and international song contests.
He describes his music as “playfully serious, heartfelt and slightly bent middle-class acoustic/pop/rock”. He records in his home studio, playing acoustic and electric guitar, bass, keyboard and mandolin, occasionally collaborating virtually with an international cast of supporting musicians. Mike particularly enjoys writing songs with the voices of different characters, from unexpected points of view.
Some reviews:
“Great melodic songs, full of warmth, wit and truly delightful and surprising turns of phrase.”
– Fast Folk
“Some of the finest songwriting we’ve been fortunate enough to come across in recent years.”
– The Ark of Music
The Ark’s review of the latest album said, “Arguing With God by New Middle Class is a bold, thought-provoking concept album that explores life’s biggest questions with depth, heart, and stunning musicality…HIGHLY recommended”.
Sharon Klein
Sharon Klein, a veteran of the Greenwich Village music scene of the 80s and 90s and a regular performer on the contemporary folk and Americana music scene in the Hudson Valley, and at the Neve Shalom music festival in Israel.
Sharon is an also a singer and accomplished finger style guitar player. She wrote her first song at 17 and landed a publishing deal with Burt Bachrach’s publishing company in her early 20s.
Sharon has had her music performed in such varied places as the Superbowl, U.S. Tennis open, and Saturday Night Live.
She has written over 200 songs. She will be teaching a songwriting for beginners course at Bard College for the summer semester 2025.
Neil Okeson
Neil Okeson is a singer-songwriter living in the Hudson Valley, performing original songs to audiences that weave together humor, joy, and the occasional political jab.
Long associated with Music For Humanity and the Hudson Valley Folk Guild, he views songwriting as a living process, and a conversation with many.
Neil enjoys hiking the trails from the river to the ridge, and exploring the wilderness of the imagination, hunting for metaphors.
He was a voice major in music school; guitar, piano, and ukulele are some of the tools of his storytelling shows. His first CD “Beautiful World” was released in 2015, and he is currently producing the next one, to be completed this year.