Colorado High School Songwriting Competition

This competition was started by CU Denver in 2021 as a way to celebrate high school songwriters.  To apply students submit videos of themselves singing their songs. A team of CU Denver music faculty, staff, and students review the videos and selects up to 10 finalists to perform their songs live on the CU Denver campus (Auraria Campus) in April. It is a friendly competition that focuses more on appreciating the skill and talent of high school songwriters than on competition.  There are also great prizes for the finalists including scholarships to the LYNX Camp Music Industry Program, recording sessions in our CU Denver recording studios, lessons from CU Denver songwriting faculty members, professional photography sessions for the student songwriter and/or their band. 

Apply here for the 2026 Colorado High School Songwriting Competition! 

Here were the 2025 Finalists:

• Callie Truman - Monarch High School
• Karissa Van Pelt - Fort Collins High School
• Celeste Pesce - ThunderRidge High School
• Anthony Ortiz Bonifacio - Early College Academy
• Asher Foster - Denver School of the Arts
• Mia Schmelmer - Broomfield High School
• Usha DeWilde - Valor Christian High School
• Ellemae Lopez - Homeschool

Who is eligible?

To celebrate the musical talent of all the high school musicians in Colorado and to provide a platform for these young artists to demonstrate their music. We hope that this competition will provide inspiration to young, contemporary musicians! The event will also help the CU Denver Music & Entertainment Industry Studies (MEIS) Department to identify and connect with potential future students.

How to apply?

Create a music video of yourself or your band playing a song that you wrote. We do require a video and not just an audio file. It is important to our judges to actually see you playing the music. Please note that you don't need a nice video camera to record your video. Even a phone camera should work. We do encourage you to do your best to maximize sound quality but, again, we emphasize that expensive sound equipment isn't needed.

What are the prizes?

Each finalist receives a $500 scholarship to the LYNX Arts Camp: Music Industry Program. 

Additionally, here are the prizes for the students who finish first through third during the live competition:

• The first place prize is a 3 hour recording session in the CU Denver Recording Studio from sound engineer Kevin Lee! Kevin is the CU Denver Recording Studio Manager and a sound engineer for artists such as Gregory Alan Isakov and Bill Frisell.
• The second place prize is a one hour songwriting lesson from a CU Denver Singer/Songwriter faculty member!
• The third place prize is a photography session of themselves or their band from MEIS Program Coordinator Kassandra Lopez! Kassandra is an experienced music photographer.

Finalists will also receive great constructive feedback about their songs and performances from our amazing judges.

Judging

Once we have received all of video submissions, our judges will review the applicants and choose the finalists. All of the finalists are invited to perform live at the King Center Recital Hall on the CU Denver campus. All applicants will receive feedback about their music from the judges. 

All applicants and finalists will be judged on both their song (lyrics, musicianship, etc.) and how the song is performed.

Competition Judges

The ccmpetition judges are CU Denver Music & Entertainment Inudstry Studies (MEIS) Department facutly, staff, alumni, and students. Here are the judges from last year:

Dango Rose - Dango is a CU Denver Singer/Songwriter Faculty Member and a member of the sensational band Elephant Revival

Paul Musso - Paul is a CU Denver Guitar Performance Faculty Member and a professional jazz musician.

Kassandra Lopez -Kassandra is the Program Coordinator of the CU Denver Music & Entertainment Industry Studies (MEIS) Department. Kassandra is also a professional flute player.

Questions? 

Reach out to Dave Walter at [email protected] or 303-315-7487

Congratulations to all of the past Colorado High School Music Competition Winners!

2024 Winners

1st - Elsa Vossler and the band Common Molly from Denver School of the Arts

2nd - Gabrielle Cohlmia from Valor Christian High School

3rd - Vivianna Bellance from Dawson School

2023 Winners

1st Place - Hadessah Haggard - "Something I Used to Believe"

2nd Place - Isabella Fabiani - "Perfect in My Eyes"

3rd Place - Eiley Connell - "How Come"

2022 Winners

1st Place - Robot Tennis Club - "305"

• Band Members: Laura Steadman - Guitar and Vocals; Eli Schulz - Bass; Nina Dorighi - Drums

2nd Place - Levi Randolph - "OST (Omicron Standard Time)"

3rd Place - AugustX - "Flurries"

• Band Members: August Brassell - Vocals; Noah Sedarwall - Piano and Vocals