DebC, I figured you were talking about the "New Folk" competition, an annual component of the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. Now, I have the same gut reaction as you to hearing those requirements, but I didn't really mind it at Kerrville (despite their use of the F word) because that festival is very strongly identified as a singer-songwriter event.

"Performer-songwriter" competitions seem to be getting more widespread though and I am somewhat bothered by the concept. But then again, I think I react more strongly because I just don't like the approach to music as a competitive activity--let alone the emphasis on becoming a friggin' STAR, dahling.

A few years ago, a well-meaning music society undertook to put out a compilation album of "folk" artists based in Lanark County. So they held a contest. (Naturally, it had to be original material. I don't think they gave any thought to making it otherwise).    I had two songs in the top 25, (the first elimination round) and neither of them got on the CD. My backwoods buddies and I came out with material that was too Lanark County, funky and funny and a bit rough around the edges. The CD that emerged was polished and bland beyond belief. That was the last time I bothered with a contest--now I figure, if you have an artistic statement to make with your music, or you just want to have some fun, go ahead and do it yourself. Don't submit it to a committee to decide whether it's worthy or not.

OCFF sponsors a songwriting competition called "Songs From the Heart", which at least doesn't misappropriate the "folk" term.

W-O