TERMS & CONDITIONS

1. Songs should consist of the contestant’s own work and should not infringe any copyrights or any other rights of any third parties. An exception is that a song that contains elements of another work may be accepted provided this is made clear by the entrant on entry, but in such cases the unoriginal part will not be judged and only the original parts will be judged.
2. Entrants must carefully check audio files and links before entry. It is the entrants responsibility to check that submitted recordings and files are playing correctly before submitting their work. In the case of links to online songs, these links must be correct and the song must be publically available (with no passwords etc required) on the page specified and clearly visible to judges and must remain there until results are announced. If faulty, non-playing recordings are submitted, or an invalid link is submitted, the entry will be marked void by the judges.
3. No changes may be made to song entries or to entrants details after submission. This includes changes to song title, category, writer’s name, audio file, written lyrics and all and any other changes including the email contact address. If a change is required the entrant must contact EKCO Nation to cancel the original entry and then re-enter the song again with the correct details. Re-entries will not be admitted after the submission deadline.
4. Songs may have multiple co-writers. All co-writers’ names should be entered on the entry form. Co-writers names should be separated by a slash and space (eg: first writer / second writer / third writer) to ensure that names appear correctly on the certificates.
5. Contestants may enter as many submissions in any category as long as the submission is unique and not a replica or close adaption of other submissions by the entrant.
6. Entrants retain full song ownership rights and all copyrights to all songs submitted. Entering the contest does not in any way affect the writers’ ownership of their songs.
7. Songs are judged based on lyrics and composition. The quality of performance, vocals and production is not a consideration. Production may also be taken into consideration in cases where production and effects form part of the composition.
8. The EKCO Nation Pure Music Contest will score all submissions based on the judging criteria and will publicly release the scores, song title and contestant names of the top ten semi-finalists as selected by the preliminary judging panel. After the final judging round the top four finalists will be publicly released and will be obligated to perform OR allow for the performance of their entry at the Pure Music Youth Concert event on October 13th 2018.
9. The contest’s obligations to entrants are to judge and score each song, publish the results online, list the winning writers and the winning songs, oversee the allocation of the winners’ prizes and issue printable certificates online for each entrant. NO other services are provided or implied. The contest does not supply or offer individual critiques of songs entered. Certificates will remain online for printing and downloading for at least three months after the contest results are announced.
10. All prizes are non-transferable and will be awarded to the first name as it appears on the entry form. In the case of co-writers the fair division and distribution of prizes among writers is the responsibility of the winners. Responsibility for the fulfilment and delivery of prizes resides with the relevant partners and sponsors and EKCO Nation shall take no part in any disputes therein arising. The EKCO Nation Pure Music Songwriting Contest reserves the right in its sole discretion to substitute any and all prizes with prizes of comparable value.
11. It is the entrants responsibility to provide correct contact details when entering the contest and to ensure that they can receive emails from the contest. Prizes and emails will be sent to the contact email address supplied on entry. If the contestant does not see or receive prizes or notifications or emails because they provided an incorrect email address, or because they failed to check their spam folder, or because their email account is over limit, or because they have a spam blocking system in place that requires verification from the sender, or because they failed to check their emails, or for any other reason, EKCO Nation will bear no responsibility or liability.
12. Entry in The EKCO Nation Pure Music Songwriting Contest constitutes permission to use winners’ names, likenesses, recordings, videos and voices for promotional and publicity purposes on EKCO Nation’s own websites, social media and on other third party websites and in publicity and promotional materials and press releases.
    1. This permission can be withdrawn by the entrant at any time upon written request. NOTE that doing so will result in your entry being voided and removed from the EKCO Nation Pure Music Songwriting Competition.
13. The judges decisions are final and binding and entrants agree by entering the contest to accept and abide by the judges decisions.
14. By participating in the contest entrants agree to be bound by these rules and by any subsequent published revisions of these rules and by the decisions of The EKCO Nation Pure Music Songwriting Contest which are final in all matters relating to the contest.