The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) announces the dates for the NSAI Song Contest Presented by CMT. Kicking off August 1 and running through October 31, 2010, the contest boasts unparalleled career-building industry relationships designed to help unsigned songwriters navigate the road to becoming professional hitmakers. The Grand Prize Winner will receive an exclusive mentoring session with Capitol Records Nashville recording artist Darius Rucker.

“Through the years the NSAI Song Contest has been a vehicle to let our organization discover some amazing new talent. Many of the winners have gone on to sign professional songwriting or artist deals. While many of the new talents were not the winners, they were discovered throughout the judging process. We get excited every year when the NSAI Song Contest Presented by CMT comes around for this reason!” says NSAI Executive Director Bart Herbison.

Entering its 11th year, NSAI has created – along with CMT for the past five years – a nationwide platform for aspiring songwriters to submit their best tunes with one Grand Prize Winner and one CMT Listeners’ Choice Winner. Past winners understand this is a powerful vehicle to get “discovered” and have found success from signing an artist development deal with DreamWorks Records to securing a music-publishing staff writer deal.

Nashville pro writers, publishers and industry professionals will narrow down the finalists over three rounds of judging and select the Grand Prize Winner, 10 Runners-Up and 10 Honorable Mentions before the Top 10 (excluding the Grand Prize Winner) are posted on nsai.cmt.com. Fans can vote online for their favorite song from January 15 through February 28, 2011. Last year there were more than 450,000 votes for the CMT Listeners’ Choice.

In addition to the mentoring session with Darius, prizes include a single-song professional demo, tickets to the 2011 CMT Music Awards, a private tour of CMT studios, a performance at The Bluebird Café, meetings with major music publishers and a one-year membership to NSAI, just to name a few. Take advantage of this opportunity to launch a songwriting career. For a full list of prizes and how to enter, visit nsai.cmt.com.

All genres of music are encouraged. The entry fees are $35.00 (Current NSAI Members) and $45.00 (Non Members) per song submitted.
About Darius Rucker: Darius Rucker signed with Capitol Records Nashville in 2007 and has since been embraced by the country music community with his chart-topping 2008 debut, Learn to Live – an album that has produced three consecutive No. 1 singles and Top 5 smash, “History In The Making.” Rucker’s transition has been highly praised, with The New York Times proclaiming he has “one of the year’s most vibrant country albums.” Rucker’s success in the country music format was recently recognized at the 43rd Annual CMA Awards when he received the Top New Artist title and again with an ACM Award nomination in the Top Male Vocalist of the Year category.  Rucker is currently in the studio working on his follow-up to Live slated for release on October 12, 2010 titled Charleston, SC 1966–a title which pays tribute to one of Rucker’s biggest influences, Radney Foster.  Rucker’s latest single, “Come Back Song,” from his forthcoming record is racing up the charts.  Fans can currently see him on the Brad Paisley H2O World Tour presented by Chevy throughout 2010.  For more information, please visit dariusrucker.com.

About NSAI: The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) is the world’s largest not-for-profit songwriters’ trade organization. Established in 1967, the membership of more than 5,000 spans the United States and seven international countries. For more than 40 years, NSAI has been dedicated to serving and protecting the rights of aspiring and professional songwriters in all genres of music. For more information, visit nashvillesongwriters.com.

About CMT:  CMT, a unit of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B), is the leading television and digital authority on country music and entertainment, reaching more than 90 million homes in the U.S.  CMT and its website, CMT.com, offer an unparalleled mix of music, news, live concerts and series and is the top resource for country music on demand.  The network’s digital platforms include the 24-hour music channel, CMT Pure Country, CMT Mobile and CMT VOD.