2025 entries open for JCDC Festival Song Competition

Aspiring finalists have until March 14 to submit their original entries for a chance to win over $3 million in cash and prizes, along with the ultimate bragging rights of joining the exclusive club of past winners in this iconic competition.

This year, aspiring entrants will be required to submit their entries electronically using the JCDC’s new on-line applications platform: JCDC Awards Force. This allows for a more streamlined process and easy review of entries, with entrants being able to track their entries and adjudicators offering feedback. Entrants must also pay the $2000 entry fee to validate their submissions.

Entries for the 2025 Jamaica Festival Song Competition must be from any genre of Jamaican music; must capture the Jamaican spirit and must promote patriotism.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange is a long-time supporter of the Festival Song Competition which she sees as a vehicle for the promotion of the things that are authentically Jamaican, and truly captures a moment in time in Jamaica’s cultural history and heritage.

VALUABLE TO CULTURE

“The Jamaica Festival Song Competition is such a valuable aspect of our modern-day culture. It is that piece of intangible heritage which provides us with a marker as to what is happening in society. Almost everyone can tell what year it was based on the respective festival song entries. That tradition must continue. So I’m using this opportunity to encourage our vocalists, writers and producers to knock heads and help us make the Festivals song for 2025 one to remember.”

The competition which has become a cultural institution since it was first staged in 1966, as a result it is one of the event most anticipated during the annual Emancipation and Independence season and provides the soundtrack for the celebrations.

The reigning winner is Kimeila ‘Candy’ Isaacs, a visually impaired artiste whose triumphed over nine other acts to secure the title with her track #onejamaica. Over the years other winners have gone on to write their names and songs into the annals of Jamaica’s music history. These include many-time winners Eric Donalson ( Cherry O Baby, Land of My Birth, Sweet Jamaica, Proud to Be Jamaican); Toots Hibbert ( Bam Bam, Sweet and Dandy, Pomps and Pride); Stanley and the Turbines ( Come Sing With Me, Dem A Fi Squirm, Fi Wi Island a Boom); and Roy Rayon ( Come Rock. Love Fever, Give Thanks and Praises). Grammy Award winner Buju Banton is also among the winners of this competition. He won in 2020 with his track I Am A Jamaican.

For further information including the competition’s rules and regulations, persons may visit www.jcdc.gov.jm or contact the JCDC Office in their parish.