SING YOUR ANTHEM
Quick facts:
We'll start accepting contest entries Wednesday, June 9th at noon Central Time. All videos must be received by 11:59 PM Central on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021.
To be eligible to win, you must be between the ages of 8-18.
To enter: Upload a VIDEO of you and/or your collaborator(s) performing your original 2-4 minute anthem to our Google Drive folder HERE. Follow the prompt to include your name, age, and contact information. Alternately, email your video and contact information to info@kidizenship.com.
Contests will be judged in two age categories 8-12 and 13-18. 1st prize in each contest & category: $1000 | 2nd: $750 | 3rd: $500.
Please make sure to check our tips and guidelines at the bottom of this page!
Kidizenship Contest #4 : SING YOUR ANTHEM
Emily Lordi and Amanda Little
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about the national anthem? Do you see the crowd standing at the presidential inauguration and Lady Gaga hitting the high notes on the White House balcony?
Do you think of “rockets’ red glare” and the flag waving “o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” as a poem on September 14, 1814, while the country was deep in the War of 1812. After a long night of “bombs bursting in air,” Key woke to see the American flag still flying and was moved to write the song as a tribute to the country’s perseverance. Someone else later put Key’s words to music (using the melody of a popular song), and Congress made it the official national anthem in 1931. Most countries from South Africa (“Let us live and strive for freedom / in South Africa our land”) to Russia (“Be glorified, country, we are proud of you!”) also have national anthems, that express their pride and ambitions.
America has many unofficial anthems, too -- songs that celebrate different kinds of empowerment and beauty, unique groups and strongly held beliefs. Songs written to bring hope and unity to those who sing them.
John Philip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” is a march full of trumpets and piccolos. “America the Beautiful,” celebrates our country’s rich landscape (“purple mountain majesty above the fruited plain”). Lee Greenwood’s 1984 ode to U.S. patriotism “God Bless theU.S.A.” was revived after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (“the flag still stands for freedom / and they can’t take that away”).
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is often called the Black national anthem and was written for Abraham Lincoln’s birthday by brothers James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson. It gives a hopeful vision for the country from the perspective of Black Americans who had endured and survived slavery (“Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us… full of the hope that the present has brought us.”)
Another example is “Young, Gifted and Black,” a song by Nina Simone that encouraged Black kids to believe in themselves—and in the “lovely, precious dream” of their lives—when their country as a whole did not. Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way” (“I’m beautiful in my way/ ’cause God makes no mistakes”), has been embraced as an anthem by the LGBTQ+ community. Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” became the unofficial anthem of Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020 (“Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon’ be alright”).
What unites all of these anthems? They tend to be up-tempo songs that people want to sing along with, because they’re catchy and because their lyrics make people feel empowered. The best of these anthems unite, rather than divide, us. They celebrate what we have in common as a community or as a country. They leave us feeling inspired.
Now we want to hear your anthem. What is your song for America or for your community? What is beautiful about it that you want to celebrate? How will it unite people across divisions? What will it inspire in those who hear it?
We have an all-star lineup of musicians judging this contest: Folk-rock guitarist and four-time Grammy winner Jason Isbell; Americana multi-instrumentalist and Grammy winner Rhiannon Giddens; country icon and three-time Grammy winner Darius Rucker; and hip-hop artist and activist Genesis Be.
Draw inspiration from the work of our judges and of your favorite musicians, and take a moment to listen to this incredible anthem performed and written by 18-year-old Nashvillian, Alora Young, a member of our Kidizenship team and the Youth Poet Laureate of the Southern United States. Now step up to the stage and let us hear you sing YOUR anthem!
We are ready and listening!
Guidelines for Composition and Submission:
Your anthem should be an original composition that involves little to no adult input.
Your song can be written and/or performed by just one person or by up to three people—all within your age group—working together on it.
It can be a solo, duet, or group performance. If someone helps compose the piece but doesn’t perform it, you should include them as a member of your team when you submit your entry.
It can be just a vocal performance (a cappella), or it can include instrumental accompaniment.
It can be written from the perspective of a group (“our flag was still there!” to quote the “Star-Spangled Banner”) or an individual (“I was born this way,” to quote Lady Gaga); or it can be addressed to others (“You are young, gifted and black”).
Please submit your anthem as a video showing you (and any other performers/composers) playing the song, to [dropbox folder info here]
2 minutes is the minimum and 4 minutes is the maximum! Aim for that sweet spot between 2-4 minutes!
Film in front of a clean, simple background without a lot of visual distractions.
Make sure we can see and hear you clearly. Good lighting helps a lot, and make sure the audio is clear before you submit!
Along with your video, please also make sure to send a lyrics sheet, in either PDF or Word format, to info@kidizenship.com, and list the names and ages of everyone who contributed.
Submissions will be judged based on adherence to the guidelines above, as well as the song’s:
Thoughtfulness
Musicality
Originality
Potential to inspire listeners
Finalists will be announced on our social media channels on October 12.
Please check out our official rules before you enter.
If music isn’t your thing, check out our upcoming contests: Champion your cause. Build Your Monument.
We are Kidizenship, and we want to hear what you have to say. Enter our contests and share them with your teachers, friends and neighbors. Want to learn more? Follow us on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook.
Emily Lordi is a Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, writer at large at T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and author of The Meaning of Soul: Black Music and Resilience Since the 1960s.
Amanda Little is the founder of Kidizenship and a professor of journalism and science writing at Vanderbilt University; she wrote The Fate of Food: What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World.