The NZ Music Commission‘s Hook, Line and Sing-a-long songwriting competition, staged in collaboration with MENZA, is now accepting students’ entries. 

You can find the entry form here. Closing date for entries is March 25, with the winner announced on March 30.

Hook, Line and Sing-a-long is both a songwriting competition and a live performance event. Begun in 2010 by Aotearoa’s music education teacher group MENZA, the kaupapa is driven by the desire to keep NZ young students writing and singing original NZ songs. For 11 years each winning song has been professionally recorded, printed and published in ways that make it easy for any and all teachers (not just music teachers) to get their students participating, singing, playing, and signing with NZSL.

Song guidelines include that it should be easy to play on the ukulele, radio-friendly and the length of an average pop song; the vocal line should not fall below middle C (C4) or above D5; and the lyrics should broadly reflect what it means to live in NZ.

The grand prize includes a recording session at Roundhead Studios in Auckland (flights as well) with a professional music mentor chosen for the songwriter/s; a gift from MusicWorks for the winning songwriter/s, plus for the winning school; having the song learned in schools all over NZ and sung in the massive Sing-a-long on the last school day of NZ Music Month.