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The Contemporary A Cappella Arranging Competition Rules and Guidelines

If you have any questions about these rules or the contest, please feel free to e-mail Don Gooding.

Who Can Enter
Student Prizes: There is no restriction on when the arrangement was completed other than at the time submmitted songs were arranged, the arranger(s) must have been between 14 and 22 and matriculated at either a secondary school or an undergraduate college or university anywhere in the world. Public Domain/Original/Cover Song Prizes: anyone can enter. For all prizes, all of the arrangers must be listed on the entry form; indicating that a group arranged the song (“Arranged by The Tufts Beelzebubs” is not acceptable).

Acceptable Submissions

Student Prizes: - One of the primary objectives of the contest is to make available to the larger a cappella community the excellent arrangements being created and performed on college and high school campuses. Arrangements must be “publishable” in order to make them widely available. There are many constraints on arrangements in order to be publishable, and these constraints are reflected in the rules below.

Song Copyright Date: The arrangement must be for one popular song written after 1975, i.e., the copyright date on the song must be 1976 or later. There is no online listing of copyright dates that we’ve found, so if there is any question we suggest consulting CD liner notes of the original performer (although dates are not always included there either).
No Medleys or Parodies: Due to copyright restrictions, no medleys or parodies will be considered.
No Original Songs: Original songs will not be considered for the student prizes, because it’s difficult to judge where “songwriting” leaves off and “arranging” begins. There is now a separate prize for Best Original Song.
Public Domain/Original Song Prizes: Only original songs and public domain songs will be considered so that they can potentially be distributed to A-Cappella.com customers without violating copyright laws. For a list of public domain songs, visit this web site.
Student Prizes - Marketability: CAP may publish commercially the best arrangements submitted in the contest, so the commercial appeal of the song will be a consideration in judging.
All Prizes - Voicing: All-male, all-female and mixed voicings will be equally considered in judging. College arrangements for 3-8 independent voices (excluding vocal percussion), and high school arrangements for 3-8 independent voices (excluding vocal percussion) will all be considered. Songs that have "optional" extra parts for use in studio recording will be considered if the optional parts are clearly separated and marked as "optional." Depending on the quantity of high-quality submissions, separate prizes may be offered in different voicing categories.
Computer Notated: All submissions must be computer notated. The free “Notepad” program from Coda Music, maker of Finale, is one low-cost, acceptable alternative. We will be taking the printed copy of your computer-notated arrangement and converting it to Finale, but the use of Finale is not required.

Basic Style Guidelines

All submissions must meet basic criteria for readable computer notation to be considered

They need to use standard music notation and form.
All rhythms should be correctly notated.
The melody must be included
All notes must have text/syllables below.
Lyrics must appear below their corresponding staff.
Vocal percussion notation is not necessary.
Voice labels (i.e., "S", "A", "T", "B" etc.) must appear on at least the first system.
Provide a tempo indication at the beginning of the piece and also at major, abrupt tempo changes, if any.
Time signature must be appropriate to the piece.
Use only treble (G), bass (F) and percussion (null) clefs.
Swing rhythm should be indicated by the word "Swing" in the tempo indication - not by attempting to notate precise swing rhythms in conventional notation.

Entries received by March 14 that fail to meet the above guidelines will be returned with an indication of why they could not be accepted. If the arranger can remedy the situation before the contest deadline, a revised or replacement manuscript may be re-submitted.

Advanced Style Guidelines: Winning student arrangements will be converted by CAP to meet our advanced style guidelines for readability, listed here, before arrangers qualify for being published and receiving a royalty fee. Conforming to these guidelines are not necessary to enter the competition. However, your arrangements will be more readable for your own group if you pay attention to these guidelines. If you use Notepad or Finale, you can download templates to use prior to notating your arrangement.

Download SATB w/Lead and VP (ZIP)
Download SSATTB (ZIP)

Arrangers who do an excellent job in meeting these guidelines may be asked to work for CAP on future projects! Advanced readability is not required for submissions but may be considered in judging.
Arranging restrictions(Student Prizes): Due to copyright restrictions, there can be no new lyrics for the melody (but it’s ok for background lyrics), no major melodic alteration (a little is fine, but nothing extreme), and no interpolated music.
Securing clearances: For sheet music to be published, a license must be secured. The owners of much popular music have sold sheet music publishing rights to either Hal Leonard Corp. (with whom CAP has a distribution agreement) or Warner Bros. Publishing. See our Music Publishers Guideline for suggestions on determining if the song can be published through Hal Leonard Corp.
Date arranged: Arrangers can submit pieces worked on in previous school years. In subsequent years, submissions may be limited to those completed since the previous contest deadline.
Quantity: Each arranger can submit a maximum of five (5) arrangements per year for the student prizes, or ten (10) arrangements per year for all of the prizes. For example, a college student arranger could submit five songs for the Best College Arrangement, three for the Best Public Domain Arrangement and two for the Best Original Songs and Arrangement.

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