Th​ese are the rules as they applied to SONGKONTEST 1 on 17 August 2025. Updates may be made for any future contests, such as cutoff dates and prizes.

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Below, the format and rules of the contest are outlined:

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Songs and performers

We aim to have 16 contestants performing one song each. Each song should be written by or for the artist entering it. Songs should not have been available to listen to online before 30 May 2025.

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The contest is open to songs of all genres and lyrics may be in any language. Solo singers, rappers, duos, bands, one-off supergroups and featured acts are all welcomed.

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Samples may only be used where the melody of the work sampled is not maintained and/or where the organiser deems the use to be sufficiently transformative. Generative AI should not be used in the writing process of any song entered into the contest

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Performances

To simplify setups and changeovers, no instruments may be played live. Instruments may be brought on stage but may not be plugged in, only mimed. All songs must have a backing track, submitted to the organiser one week before the contest, which is no longer than 3 minutes and 10 seconds.

 

Lead vocals must be performed live (and songs must include lead vocals) but backing tracks may include some backing vocals. Count-ins may be included on the backing track but they count as part of the 3:10 running time. Performers may not speak before the backing track starts other than if requested by the sound technician to check levels. The only introduction will be the one provided by the host, announcing the song name, song number, artist name and names of writers. After the song, the artist may say "thank you" to the crowd for a maximum of 10 seconds and must leave the stage with anything they brought on after the host comes over to shake their hand.

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Dancing is encouraged but not necessary. Artists may provide a backing image or video to be projected onto the wall behind them to accompany their song.

 

To ensure audience members are reasonably able to listen to all songs, performances will be grouped into 3 or 4 blocks with a break for refreshments between each block. There will be a holding area where artists performing in the current block of songs must remain when not on stage. After performing, entrants must return to the holding area until the end of the current block.

 

If technical difficulties or exceptional circumstances interfere with a performance, the performer will be offered the chance to perform again at the end of the current block or the start of the next block.

 

Voting, scoring and winning

(In summary, artists and audience award points to their top 4 songs, focusing on "the best song" rather than "the best singer". The split of points from artists and audience is roughly 50-50).

The winner will be determined by a 2-stage voting system. After all songs have been performed, the performers will be given the chance to perform up to 15 seconds of their song a capella to act as a recap before the audience voting period begins.

 

All audience members who arrive before the first song is performed will receive a voting slip as they come in. This ensures that only people who have heard all entries may vote. On their voting slip, each audience member will list what they felt to be the best song, second-best song, third-best song and fourth-best song, awarding 12 points, 7 points, 4 points and 1 point. This is a secret ballot and these slips are placed into a box. An interval act plays while these votes are counted by the host, sponsor and a neutral party in a closed-off area. Once audience points are fully tallied, each artist's points will be scaled to an equivalent proportion of the total points awarded by the artists. This way, both artists and audience will contribute 50% of the points.

 

Voters will be briefed that they are voting for what they believe to be the best song; not the best singer, not the one which most closely matches their tastes and they will be asked to suspend any personal biases they have towards or against any performers they personally know.

 

After the interval act, the artists will, one by one, announce the songs they rank as best, second-best, third-best and fourth-best. These songs will receive 12, 7, 4 and 1 point(s).

 

Once artist voting is complete, the total votes awarded by the audience to each act are announced from the bottom of the scoreboard upwards. In similar song contests where this voting format is used, this produces a suspenseful and exciting show. Full tiebreakers exist to produce a definitive result, which will be explained before the vote reveal begins.

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Once the winner is known, prizes will be given out and the winner will be invited to perform their song again to close the show.

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Prizes

Contest partner SAFO Music Group will provide 2 hours of studio time with producer Laurence Hobbs to the contest winner.

£100 cash in total is up for grabs. The artist vote winner will receive £30 cash. The contest winner will receive £70. The contest winner and artist vote winner can be the same artist.

Trophies for the winning performer and writer will also be produced. They will be capable of being combined if the winning singer and writer are the same individual person.