1. What is the SOFIA™ Music Awards? The SOFIA™ Music Awards is an annual, international music contest recognizing independent musicians/artists all over the world. Entries are limited to independently (indie) released songs, including those from very small, independent record labels, and self-produced/self-released artists.
2. When Is The Deadline For Entry? Each year, submissions for the SOFIA™ Music Awards opens on January 1, and the song submission deadline is Noon (EST) on April 15th. Winners are announced by August 30th every year.
3. Can I Enter A Song That Is Not In English ? Since the SOFIA™ is a contest that recognizes artists from around the world, we do accept songs that are written in other languages, but these songs must be accompanied by a PDF, DOCX or TXT file with the song lyrics translated into English.
   
4. Will I Receive A Confirmation That I Entered? Entrants receive two emails from SOFIA™: one confirmation\receipt from us, and one email with log-in information to your personal page. Your personal page is where you go to see your entry form data. Once you receive these emails, your entry is already in the pipeline for judging.
5. Will I Retain My Song Rights If I Enter? Absolutely! It’s your song, you can do whatever you wish with it. You retain full rights to any work you submit.  Keep in mind, we are a competition not a record label.
6. What Formats Do You Accept? We accept mp3 and AAC formats of your complete work.
7. What Happens After I Enter? You will receive two emails: a receipt/confirmation of entry, and an email with your log-in information for your personal page.  These emails will be sent to the email address associated with your billing information on the entry form.  So, if the email address you used for payment is different from the email address you used as a contact on your entry form, you will want to check your billing information email address for the above-mentioned emails.  All other emails from SOFIA™ will be sent to the email address you used on your entry form as a contact.  Make sure you use an email address that you check often so we don’t have trouble contacting you at the end of the contest. (We cannot guarantee that these emails won’t end up in a spam folder, because there are multiple factors that could affect these emails.  Servers, email services, and how the artist handles emails on their end, all of which are beyond our control, can all affect whether or not a songwriter receives what we send.  Because we are not the governing body of said email services and servers, we cannot change these issues. We have had problems with yahoo and aol accounts not getting through to entrants, so we suggest you use a different email service.) Evaluation of your song begins within a few days of entry.  Winners will be announced on the SOFIA™ website by August 30th. 
8. What Do You Do With My Song File? If you choose to provide us with a song via upload from the entry form or Dropbox, only the contest coordinator and the judges will see your song file. All files are deleted from our email and from our server three months after the given contest year ends.
9. Can I Enter A Song That Has Not Been Released Yet? No. The song must be currently available to the public. 
10. Is There An Age Requirement To Enter? All entrants must be 18 years old or older.
11. What Do You Mean By Independently Released? Any songs you enter must be independently released and your own work.  This means the song must be self-released by the artist (You). Or, your song may be released by a small, independent label that is not owned by, or a subsidiary of, the big labels, such as Sony, Warner, and the like. When in doubt, ask us.
12. I Live Outside The United States, Can I Still Enter? Yes!  SOFIA™ Music Awards is an international competition open to songwriters/artists all over the world.  But any songs produced in another language must be accompanied by a text file with the lyrics already translated into English for us.
13. Can I Enter More Than One Song? You may enter more than one song in the contest, but each entry must be accompanied by the entry fee. 
    (*Entry fees are non-refundable.) We are currently not evaluating complete albums.
14. Can I Enter The Same Song Two Or More Years In A Row? Yes, you can enter as many subsequent years as you like, as long as the song was not previously picked as a SOFIA™ winner. Your chances of winning change each year, depending on the songs we receive in a given category for that year. We can never guarantee a win, but while your song may not win one year, that doesn’t mean it can’t win in a following year. In addition to this, we have no release date requirement, so you can enter songs from any year in which you first released it.
15. How Will Songs Be Judged? Songs are evaluated by musicians, singers, and engineers. Entries will be judged based on multiple skills, such as arrangement, lyrics, performance, etc.
16. When Will Winners Be Announced? Winners will be announced by August 30th of each year.
17. What Do The Winners Receive? There will be one winner for each category.
    Each winner will receive:
    A Physical Award.
    A digital Winner’s Emblem to use on your website, social media profile, and in promotions.
    Front Page Exposure for at least one year on SofiaMusicAward.com
    Permanent Exposure of your song via listing on SofiaMusicAward.com
    Permanent Artist Page on SofiaMusicAward.com, with links to where the song is available for sale.
    Ongoing Promotion of the winning song through social media, print advertising, online advertising, email lists, and more.
    Promotion across multiple websites.
18. How Do I Send My Song? There are many ways to provide us with your song. If you have a YouTube video (our preferred way to listen) of your song, you may choose to simply provide us with a link to that video. But be advised that this link must be viable throughout the entire process, up until the contest is wrapped on August 30th. Or you may simply upload your mp3 or AAC on the entry form. If you have any problem uploading your file, you can submit the form without it and then email the file, including the name of the song and artist to sofiamusicawards@gmail.com(If your file is too large to email, you can use a free Dropbox account and send the song to sofiamusicawards@gmail.com.)
19. What Is The SOFIA™ Song of the Year Cash Prize Award? When you enter the SOFIA™ contest, if you win in any category, your song will automatically be entered in the SOFIA™ Song of the Year competition.  Each year, irrespective of category, SOFIA™ judges will select one Song of the Year from the winning artists’ pool.  In addition to the SOFIA™ trophy for the category won, this single SOFIA™ Song of the Year winner will also receive the SOFIA™ Song of the Year $500 (USD) cash prize. This cash prize is paid out via Paypal. But again, only one winner per year is chosen from all the SOFIA™ winners in that contest year.