Song Writing Contest Winners
The 2025 winners are presented in the videos below. Press play on each video to listen. Click for Lyrics to see each song's lyrics.
We received 122 songs. Many were absolutely outstanding songs that didn’t even receive an honorable mention. This is a very subjective process; different judges would select different songs. That’s why we change the judges every year. We’ll begin our Fourth Annual Songwriting Contest in May with three new judges. Please consider re-entering your song again in 2026.
The 1st Place Winner of $1,000
Andrew Pauls for New Pledge
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“New Pledge” – Andrew Pauls
Written by Andrew Pauls-Thomas, Copyright 2025, all rights reserved.
Eight ‘o clock, a sunny Monday morning
Twenty hands placed over twenty little hearts
We face the flag above the dusty chalkboard
And say those words without thinking what they are
We learned about the men with feather pens, declaring independence
And freedom sounded pretty good to me
But what the textbooks couldn’t sell us, what School House Rock forgot to tell us
Was the difference between reality and dreams
I pledge allegiance to a future
Where everybody’s truly free
I pledge allegiance to the dream
Six ‘o clock out under those bright floodlights
The announcer gets us all up on our feet
A girl in a red dress steps to the microphone
Starts to sing “O say can you see”
But I needed a new song to push us forward
Those time-worn words weren’t ringing true for me
I need no rockets glare, no bombs in air
I need an anthem made for love and care
Oh say can I see you, can you see me?
I pledge allegiance to a future
Where everybody’s truly free
I pledge allegiance to my neighbor
To my friends and enemies
I pledge allegiance to the dream
There are tears that cried the blue behind those fifty stars
And there is blood that bled the red stripes on the white
It’s hard to say I love the country of this flag
But I know I have to find a way to try
So, I pledge allegiance to a future
Where everybody’s truly free
I pledge allegiance to my neighbor
To my friends and enemies
I pledge allegiance to the dream
Runner-up Winner of $500
Kristin Camp, Andrew Camp and Patricia Bahia for Fade
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“Fade” Lyrics:
Now that you’re gone
I’m like a fabric full of holes
A heart that beats alone
Without you
But you’re
Never really gone
Your memory’s like a tattoo
No one else can see it
But I do
Ooooo the ink of you
Ooooo always think of you
Haunt me
Bleed into my edges til you’re
Blooming
Grow in all directions and
Surround me
I’ll never let the ink of you
Fade
Fade
Fade
Fade
I’ll never let the ink of you fade
It’s been nine months now
Nothing covering the ground
We lay our flowers down
It’s still bare
And I
Still pick up the phone
Thinking I will call you
And hear your voice again
But you’re not there
Ooooo the ink of you
Ooooo always think of you
Haunt me
Bleed into my edges til you’re
Blooming
Grow in all directions and
Surround me
I’ll never let the ink of you
Ah
Fade
Ah
Fade
Ah ah ah
I’ll never let the ink of you
Fade
Fade
Fade
I’ll never let the ink of you fade
I’ll never let the ink
Oo
I’ll never let the ink of you fade
Honorable mentions
Chad Elliott and Kathryn Severing Fox for Driftwood
(Submitted by Weary Ramblers)
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“Driftwood”
I’ve been walkin’
Down a dark and winding road
Trying to find my way back home
But I keep getting lost in the bramble and the brush
I know I carry you through it too
‘Cause I’ve thought I’d be lost without you
I’ve been thinkin’
About the way things turn
The way things turn around
Like old records played too long
The same old song we found
It now keeps getting lost
In the scratches and the dust
I know I carry you through it too
‘Cause I’ve thought I’d be lost without you
Ooo
You’ve been slipping
Far away – far away from home
Like driftwood – that seems to always need to be alone
But you keep getting lost in the current and the cause
I know I carry you through it too
But you keep getting lost in the bramble and the brush
I know I carry you through it too
But I can get lost without you
Lynne Hanson for Light In Me
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Light In Me
Words and music by Lynne Hanson
VERSE 1
Some nights I lie
In the grass outside
And I count the stars above me
Like a mitten on the ground
Hanging in the lost and found
Waiting for someone to love me
CHORUS
I wanna land on the right side
I wanna live on the bright side
I just need to find the light in me
The light in me
VERSE 2
Some days I drive
Just for the ride
A change of scenery
I turn off my phone
Pretend nobody’s home
I’m alone but I’m not lonely
CHORUS
I wanna land on the right side
I wanna live on the bright side
I just need to find the light in me
I could be your movie queen
Lighting up all the screens
I could be your fantasy
Need to find the light in me
VERSE 3
Last night I had a dream
Where I was flying free
Air was soft and I could breathe
Glide for hours and a time
Getting lost in the rhyme
Wanting so hard to believe
CHORUS
That I could land on the right side
Live on the bright side
I just need to find the light in me
I could be your movie queen
Lighting up all the screens
I could be your fantasy
Need to find the light in me
Phil Laeger for The Lines
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The Lines
Words and music by Phil Laeger
The lines beneath us fly
On the interstate we’re traveling called life
We pull off to the side and look behind
And, oh, the miles
It all looks straight now, but we know the twists and turns
A sigh, a knowing smile
A deeper joy for having held on in the trial
For in the rear view mirror we can see
Young you and me
Without a clue to lead us through this mystery
Only the lines that we recited to each other
That, forsaking every other for the rest of our days,
We would be true
To the lines we spoke, “I do”
My love, give me your hand
Don’t you remember? That is how this all began
The risk, the thrill, the question posed, and then
Skin to skin
A headlong dive, a letting go, a giving in
And now, we’ve grown as friends
Better with time, a richer kind of love we’re in
And when the shadows deepend, still we reach
Each to each
To feel the certainty of promises we keep
To have and hold
No matter how the lines have fallen
For it isn’t love that alters when it alteration finds
Waters still or rough
Oh, they will not quench our love
These lines, these tracks of tears
A beauty weathered by our war of younger years
The aging and the breaking of our hearts
I trace the scars
Yet somehow Providence and faith led us this far
And now the drive is new
On the horizon up ahead comes into view
A love reborn of Higher Love than ours
Much deeper scars
That hold the past, and will at last prove who we are
I love the lines
For they remind me how we’re mended
For when human love had ended
Love had just begun
Oh, I love these lines
For they’ve led us two to One
Sam Robbins for What a Little Love Can Do
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What a Little Love Can Do
It’s gonna be a long road
When we look at where we started
One nation broken hearted
Always running from itself
It’s gonna be a high climb
As our snowy steps get deeper
On the mountain of redeemers
In silk suits on TV screens
Because I’ve seen the lights shine
Through closed windows
Down dirt roads in Kentucky
And under New York City moons too
I don’t care who
I don’t care who
But I’m gonna reach out to you
I’m gonna reach out to you
Show em’ what a little love can do
Show em’ what a little love can do
The sun’s goin down
Beyond the beach in California
And another congressman is forming
Another well thought out speech
But the moon has risen high
Above the dark and silent east coast
And I know that love means most
When it’s right in front of me
But I look around
And I can’t find it in the papers
I don’t see it on my screens
But I see it in you
I don’t care who
I don’t care
But I’m gonna reach out to you
I’m gonna reach out to you
Show em’ what a little love can do
Show em’ what a little love can do
I’m gonna reach out to you
I’m gonna reach out to you
Show em’ what a little love can do
Show em’ what a little love can do
I wanna believe
In something bigger than me
I wanna believe
In where this all could lead
But the older I get the more I see
Whatever world I wanna live in
Begins with me
I’m gonna reach out to you
I’m gonna reach out to you
Show em’ what a little love can do
Show em’ what a little love can do
I’m gonna reach out to you
I’m gonna reach out to you
Show em’ what a little love can do
Show em’ what a little love can do
Peter Sando for High School Reunion
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High School Reunion
Peter Sando © Sandbag Music 2014
Got a call from an old friend yesterday
I hadn’t heard from him since I don’t know when
It seems what’s left of the class of ‘63
will gather once again at the Inn
High school reunion
I know she’ll be there
to see her would be more than I can bear
I don’t wanna go I don’t wanna know
why I lost her love somehow
And who’s holding her now
I don’t wanna see I don’t wanna be
The one who’s hiding in the hall
with my face to the wall
Oh no I don’t wanna go
I told my friend I had better things to do
Old memories are more than enough
He said “Jim won’t you come along anyway
We could have ourselves some laughs at the pub”
Facebook connection
She still looks so fine
but nothing you can say will change my mind
I don’t wanna go I don’t wanna know
When she looks into my eyes
I’ll just break down and cry
I don’t wanna see I don’t wanna be
the one who’s talking thru my tears
and have it fall on deaf ears
Oh no, I don’t wanna go
Oh no, I don’t wanna go
E.C. Lorick submitted by Marji Zintz for Legacy
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Legacy
Composed by E.C. Lorick
© 2001 E.C. Lorick. All rights reserved.
V1: Well, I came across the ocean
With a torch light in my hand
Yeah they got me fixed back in ’86 and they put me on
this stand
They said I was a beacon, and “Liberty” was my name
And, my noble words would be widely heard and
the world would see my flame
At the birthing of this nation,
There were some who came in chains
They would bleed for years and my coming here
Didn’t wipe away those stains
And, the people of the spirit; they were native to this land
But divine design would deny its crime
When the trail of tears began
Legacy
REFRAIN:
Give me your tired Give me your poor
Yearning to breathe free tempest-tossed from teeming shores
Send these here to me
At the turning of the century comes a war to end all wars
But the ones who “win” are not really friends and again
The cannons roar
From the halls in Montezuma to the camps in Germany
Bitter-cold Gojoseon. Can we hold Khe Sanh?
For Sadam, sound revelry
REFRAIN
When we ring the bells of freedom
We must ring them from within
For the sound of chimes in the desperate times
Will remind us all of when
Legacy
With the Great Emancipator
And, a brother at each side
Well a King broke free down in Tennessee
And, we followed ‘til he died, singing
REFRAIN
Now I’m standing in the harbor
I can see the towers fall
Will we turn to hate,
Is it just too late for the writing on my wall?
When around the world the flags unfurl
And, there’s fire in the sky
Think of Liberty when you look at me
For I’ll still be standing by, saying
Legacy
REFRAIN:
Give me your tired Give me your poor
Yearning to breathe free tempest-tossed from teeming shores
Send these here to me
I am your beacon This is my hand
Reaching across the sea This is my message, this is my stand
Send these here to me
OUTRO:
Now they said I was a beacon
And “Liberty” was my name
And my noble words were widely heard
And the world did see
see my flame
David Ray for Habana
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Habana (David Ray)
Rides her bike through the
Blue stone streets
To this cafe
Down by the sea
After nightfall
The tide and music will rise
There in your eyes
Habana
In the morning
She waves to me
In a language
That I can’t speak
Time is whispering
You’re only here for a while
I’ll miss your smile
Habana
Take this heart
It’s of no concern
One fine day
I will return
Keep this heart
It’s of no concern
One fine day
I will return
Wind is rising
The sails have flown
I keep dreaming of
Sand and stone
All is peaceful
Until the morning alarm
(I’m) there in your arms
Habana
Rides her bike through the
Blue stone streets
To this cafe
Down by the sea..
Copyright 2020 by David Ray, Missing Keys Music/BMI
Don Sarlin for Write It Real
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Write It Real (Song for My Father)
By Don Sarlin
My father was a painter when he was young
Had the gift and a dream
He’d live in the Village, sell the works he’d done
End up in museums
But times got tough, and he took up teaching
Just to make ends meet
And there he found his true life’s work
At a school on Bleecker Street
He’d strut and fret on his classroom stage
Coaxing kids to write
They’d put on paper what they might not say
Some said he changed their lives
He’d go…
You say here it was cold outside
Tell me more, tell me, how did it feel
Did your teeth chatter
Were your fingers numb
Did your nose turn red? Did it run
Write it real Write it real
Well it wasn’t easy being a teacher’s son
Sometimes it was hell
He’d read something I’d rushed to get done
His look said it wasn’t done well
I can’t write, I’d say
He’d grab my hand with the pen, make a scribbly line
It’s thinking, it’s just thinking kid
Your hand is writing fine
We’d talk, and when I really knew
What I had to say
I’d feel myself calming down
And words poured out like rain
He’d go, you say here you miss your Mom, well I do too
Tell me more, how’s it feel
How she’d sing, when she combed your hair
Hold you when you were scared?
Write it real Write it real
My father died at 89, it was late in the fall
Went to his place to sort out his things, all those boxes in the hall
A few held paintings, all the rest had papers
Yellow and torn or frayed
Stories his kids wrote for him
He’d kept them to that day
And I see my father now and then in my dreams
At his desk with a smile on his face
Reading something some kid just wrote
It’s a heavenly place
And he goes, what do you mean you miss your Dad
Tell me more – tell me how does it feel
Did he get you to love to write
Do you dream of him at night
Write it real. Write it real.