Inspired by the 60th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech, Boys & Girls Club teens will have the unique opportunity to express their dreams in lyrics and/or poetry form in the national contest known as the Voice Your Dreams Project.
The contest is offered with educational modules, artist videos and exercises, helping to guide Club members in the art of writing lyrics. Lessons are web-based and may be facilitated by Boys & Girls Club leaders, or teens may engage independently.
National recording artists will serve as Voice Your Dreams Project judges and ambassadors who will select the top winners, while other VYDP featured artists, professional songwriters and producers, adapt winning lyrics to music.
The contest asks Boys & Girls Club teens to express their dreams for social justice across topics ranging from civil rights, women’s rights, gender rights, healthcare and mental health rights, and others. Submissions will be accepted in lyric or poetry form with 200 words or less.
There will be One (1) National Grand Prize winner, 5 National Winners and 20 Regional Winners with education grants from $1,000 to $10,000 for Clubs and individual Club Members and more. All five (5) national winners will have their lyrics professionally produced and recorded by VYDP Artists.
National recording artists will serve as Judges and Ambassadors to select the finalists’ lyric winners, with other Voice Your Dreams featured artists serving as mentors, composers and producers. These artists will adapt and produce the top 5 lyrics in professional recordings. An additional 20 winners will have lyrics synchronized to music via Voice Your Dreams educational partner, MAPS (Music & Poetry Synchronized).