Novena Church 75th Anniversary Theme Song Competition

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 18 May, 2025
12:00 am

Categories


Overview:

We are excited to announce a song competition to celebrate the upcoming 75th Anniversary of Novena Church. This is an opportunity for everyone to get creative and to contribute to our milestone celebration.

Objective:

The 75th Anniversary theme song competition invites composers, lyricists, and musicians to submit original works that reflect the theme of gratitude, hope, remembrance, and renewal.

75th Anniversary Theme:

Gratitude & Hope: Remember, Rejoice, Renew

The celebration focuses on the “journey” that we have had as a community, led by Mother Mary to Jesus. We look back at the 75 years of the Church’s presence with deep gratitude, appreciating all the intercessions of Mother Mary and the strong presence and graces bestowed to the church goers over the years. We look to our journey ahead as a community of faith with hope, knowing that Mother Mary will always walk closely with us and God will always welcome us with open arms.

The 3 “Rs” also help us to anchor the celebration in a three-fold character in time.

– Remember: we remember our past with great gratitude, acknowledging the many blessings and the faithfulness of God in our lives

– Rejoice: we rejoice knowing that we have a mother who is always journeying closely with us and a God who only wants to relate to us closer each day

– Renewal: we renew our commitment to share the love of Mary and God to our neighbours, we will spread the good news through our thoughts, words, and deeds

Criteria for Entry:

  1. Alignment with Theme: “Gratitude and Hope: Remember, Rejoice, Renew”
  • The song must clearly reflect the key concepts of the theme: Gratitude, Hope, Remember, Rejoice, and Renew.
  • Lyrics should convey a message of appreciation, optimism, healing, and celebration, ideally inspiring the audience to reflect on the past, embrace the present, and look forward to a renewed future.
  1. Originality
  • The song and score must be entirely original. Submissions that feature plagiarized or pre-existing material (music or lyrics) will be disqualified.
  • Creative, innovative, and unique musical compositions and lyrics are encouraged.
  1. Duration
  • The song must have a maximum duration of 3,5 minutes. Submissions exceeding this length will not be considered.
  1. Learnability and Sing–ability
  • The song should be easy to learn and perform, suitable for a variety of audiences and participants.
  • Simple and memorable lyrics and melodies are encouraged to make the song more accessible and enjoyable for choirs or congregations.
  • Lyrics should be clear and singable with smooth phrasing.
  1. Language
  • The song may be submitted primarily in English. However, multilingual or bilingual format are also welcomed. If multilingual or bilingual, one of them should be English. The languages must be easily understandable and harmonize with the theme of inclusivity and unity.
  1. Instrumentation & Arrangement
  • The musical scores should be adaptable for a range of instrumentations.
  1. Production Quality
  • A high-quality recording of the song (audio and/or video) is required for submission.
  • While professional-quality recordings are not mandatory, the submission must be clear, with well-balanced vocals and instrumentation.

Competition Details:

  1. Deadline for submissions: 18th May 2025
  2. Awards and Recognition – The following award will be given to the top entry:
    • 1st Place: SGD $1000
    • 2nd Place: SGD $750
    • 3rd Place: SGD $500

Submission Guidelines:

  1. Please send entries electronically to: 75songcompetition@novenachurch.com
  2. All entries must include your contact details (i.e. full name, email, contact number), title of the song, MP3 or WAV recording (MP4 is optional), lyrics, and a brief description or rationale of its inspiration or meaning. Music score is optional.
  3. Deadline for submissions: 18th May 2025

Judging Criteria:

  1. Creativity and originality.
  2. Relevance to Novena Church and the theme of the 75th anniversary.
  3. Melodies
  4. Once your song has been shortlisted, we may request various musical adaptations tailored to different performance settings or specific requirements.

Timeline:

  1. Submission deadline: 18th May 2025
  2. Winner announcement:  The organising committee will contact the winner privately either through email, or by phone no later than 9th June 2025. Song launch: 9th June 2025
  3. For any enquiries, please contact: Ms. Jennifer Chew at events.comms@novenachurch.com; Tel: 6255 2133

NOTE:

  1. By submitting a song entry, participants agree to the terms and conditions of the competition.
  2. Novena Church reserves the right to tweak and modify the song.
  3. By submitting your song and score, you agree that Novena Church will retain full copyright ownership of the song.

We look forward to your submission! You can also download the design brief via this QR code   or click here.

In Him, there is Plentiful Redemption.