The John Lennon Award is an annual competition open to student songwriters and composers of contemporary musical genres including alternative, pop, rock, indie, electronica, R&B, and experimental. Through the generosity of Ono and Gibson Musical Instruments, scholarships are presented annually for the best original songs submitted to the competition. Applicants must be in residence in the United States or its territories. They may only submit one application per BMI Foundation awards program and may not submit the same musical work to more than one BMI Foundation awards program. Applicants may only submit works that have not been assigned to any major music publisher or major record label and may only apply if they have not previously won the John Lennon Award. Honorable mentions may apply again. Applicants must submit an audio recording of one original song and an anonymized lyric sheet in any language, containing only the title and text. If the song is in a language other than English, applicants must include an English translation. Co-written works can have no more than 3 total writers. All co-writers must meet eligibility requirements. One single songwriter of record must submit the application. Songwriters can only be the writer of a record on one submission. Songwriters of record and their co-writers can also be co-writers on other submissions. Only songwriters should be listed as co-writers for the award. No other artists should be listed (performers, producers, etc.). Please visit the award's website or contact the BMI Foundation, Inc. for more information.