2025 Program Guidelines

The 2025 Songbook Academy Summer Intensive (the “Academy”) is sponsored by the Great American Songbook Foundation, Inc. (“Sponsor”) headquartered at One Carter Green, Carmel, Indiana 46032. The Academy is designed for high school students with a passion for singing to hone their vocal and performance skills through a pre-professional experience focused on the Great American Songbook, which is a critical foundation for any career in music.
 
Dates and Deadlines for Applications: Entry for the Academy begins November 13, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time and ends March 23, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time. The application requires a standard fifty-dollar assessment fee.  The Academy is subject to all federal, state and local laws and regulations. Academy is void where prohibited by law.
 
Who May Apply: The Academy is open to individuals who are enrolled in high school (or home school) grades 9-12 as of January 1, 2025 and are U.S. legal residents residing in the United States. Applicants may be required to provide proof of date of birth, high school enrollment, and residency upon request.
 
Employees of Sponsor and Sponsor’s parent entities, affiliates, subsidiaries, including any vendors providing services in connection with the Academy, distributors and advertising and promotion agencies are not eligible to participate in the Academy. Any Family Member and Household Member of such employees are also not eligible to participate in the Academy. For purposes of these Program Guidelines, “Family Member” means a parent, child, sibling or spouse, and “Household Member” means persons who live in the same household as such employees whether related or not.
 
All past participants are eligible to re-apply if they are still an active high school student.
  
How to Apply: All Songbook Academy applications are submitted via the Acceptd platform. Applicants are required to submit a color photo or headshot and video recordings of two (2) contrasting songs from the Great American Songbook, complete a web form, and pay a non-refundable assessment fee of fifty dollars ($50.00). All Application materials will be submitted via the Acceptd platform.

For purposes of these Program Guidelines, “receipt” of an Application occurs when the Sponsor’s servers record the Application information resulting in an Application being received. All Applications must be submitted electronically. Applications become the property of Sponsor. An Applicant meeting the applicable requirements set forth above may only submit one (1) Application.

By submitting an Application, each Applicant agrees to these Program Guidelines and certifies that their Application complies with all requirements set out in the Program Guidelines. Applicant represents that the Application is original and all rights thereto are owned entirely by the Applicant and the Application does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any Application for any reason in its sole and absolute discretion. In the event it is determined that an Applicant has not complied with these Program Rules, has failed to execute and return any required documents within the specified time period or has made false statements, Applicant will be disqualified at Sponsor’s sole discretion.
 
Program Fee: If selected to participate in the Academy, a non-refundable Program Fee of $1,000.00 is due on or before May 11, 2025. The Program Fee includes:

• Supervised dormitory-style accommodations (single room/double occupancy) in a Butler University residence hall;
• All meals on and off-campus;
• Commercial transportation during the week; and
• All workshops, master classes, mentor sessions and social activities throughout the Academy Week.

The Program Fee does not include travel expenses to and from Carmel, Indiana, for the Academy Week.

 
Selection of Songbook Academy® Participants: Each qualifying Application received by the announced deadline will be adjudicated by a panel of qualified screeners, comprised of music industry professionals and educators, based upon the following criteria: (i) intonation; (ii) diction; (iii) phrasing; (iv) rhythm; and (v) song interpretation. Each qualifying Applicant will receive written feedback from the screeners on their two (2) song submission. The screeners will select forty (40) Applicants (“Selected Applicants”) to be invited to participate in the Songbook Academy. Selected Applicants will be notified via the Acceptd platform, email and/or phone on or before April 16, 2025. If a Selected Applicant cannot be reached after five (5) days from the first notification attempt, his or her Application will be deemed ineligible. 
 
Academy Format: The Selected Applicants will participate in the Songbook Academy® (as “Academy Students”), which requires attendance and participation in a eight (8) day Academy (“Academy Week”) on interpreting and performing the music of the Great American Songbook at the Sponsor’s headquarters in Carmel, Indiana, July 12-19, 2025. Each Academy Participant must pay the Program Fee (unless waived) and attend all workshops, classes, rehearsals and performance events during the Academy Week. Academy Week will conclude with a Concert in the 1,600 seat Palladium Concert Hall at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana. This performance will be livestreamed for national audiences.

Awards and Recognition: Each Academy participant will be eligible to receive a college letter of recommendation upon request, a recognition letter sent to the participant's high school upon request, and a lifetime membership in the Academy alumni network, which seeks to provide continued performance and education opportunities across the country for past students when possible. 

   
Limitation of Liability: Sponsor and its respective directors, officers, employees, agents and representatives (collectively, “Released Parties”) are not responsible for lost, late, misdirected, damaged, stolen, altered, garbled, incorrect, incomplete or delayed Applications; all of which will be void. Released Parties are also not responsible for problems related to technical malfunctions of electronic equipment, computer online systems, servers, or providers, computer hardware or software failures, phone lines, failure of any Application to be received by Sponsor on account of technical problems, traffic congestion on the Internet or the website, or for any other technical problems including telecommunication, miscommunication or failure, and failed, lost, delayed, incomplete, garbled, or misdirected communications which may limit an Applicant’s ability to apply to the Academy. Released Parties are not responsible for any damage to an Applicant’s computer system as a result of submitting an Application. Released Parties are not responsible for any other errors or malfunctions of any kind, whether computer network, printing, typographical, human or otherwise relating to or in connection with the Academy, including, without limitation, errors or malfunctions which may occur in connection with the administration of the Academy, the processing or judging of Applications, or in any Academy-related materials. In the event of a dispute regarding Applications received from multiple users having the same email account, the authorized subscriber of the email account at the time of Application will be deemed to be the Applicant and must comply with these Program Guidelines. An “authorized subscriber” is the natural person who is assigned the email address by the Internet Service Provider, online service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses.
 
If for any reason the Academy cannot run as planned, Sponsor reserves the right to modify, or terminate the Academy, and to cancel or suspend the Academy in its entirety. Sponsor reserves the right to reschedule, modify or cancel the Application procedures, dates, times and location of the Academy. In the event the Sponsor cancels the Academy, Sponsor will refund all Program Fees already paid by Selected Applicants. No refund or compensation will be made by Sponsor for other expenses incurred by the Applicant resulting from Sponsor’s cancellation of the Academy.
 
By participating in the Academy, Applicant agrees to release, indemnify and hold harmless the Released Parties from all liability, claims, actions, proceedings, losses, injuries and damages to person(s), including death and property. In no event will the Released Parties be responsible or liable for any damages or losses of any kind, including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of submitting an Application or participation in the Academy.
 
Assignment Of Rights And Release Forms: Except where prohibited by law, Applicant hereby acknowledges that his or her Application constitutes consent and agreement to the recording, streaming and use of Application materials, performances, appearances, name, voice, singing voice, likeness and any musical or sound effects produced by Applicant or Sponsor for use in connection with any television program, promotion or the Internet for all purposes, including, but not limited to, advertising, marketing, promotion, merchandising and the exploitation of any and all ancillary and subsidiary rights, as the same may be edited, in all media now known or hereafter created, throughout the universe, in perpetuity for no compensation, unless otherwise required by law. A Selected Applicant and his or her parent or guardian must execute, notarize and return within five (5) days receipt a liability release, a publicity release (where legal) and any other documentation that Sponsor requires, including, without limitation, an Affidavit of Eligibility and Enrollment Form and Waiver.
 
Jurisdiction & Choice Of Law: By submitting an Application, Applicant agrees that the Academy is governed by the laws of the State of Indiana, and any suit, proceeding, or claim related to the Academy shall be heard in the courts of Hamilton County, Indiana, or the United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division only, and that such courts are the appropriate venue for and have jurisdiction over any such suit, proceeding, or claim.