New Jersey Teens Can Win $5K Record Contract With Drug-Free Song

MILLBURN, NJ — New Jersey high school students can enter an original song with a substance use prevention message as part of the 2020 New Jersey Shout Down Drugs music competition, organized by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey. The contest is in its 16th year, and includes finalists from all over the state. The deadline is Jan. 10, 2020.

First prize is a $5,000 recording contract. Second place will earn a $3,000 contract, and third place will win a $2,000 contract.

The organization said that students should "create songs with original music and lyrics that contain a strong peer-to-peer substance use prevention message. Whether the song is R&B, rock, jazz, hip hop or soul, the goal is to spread the importance of avoiding substance use."

After the songs are entered, an independent panel of judges will select county finalists to perform in the statewide Prevention Concert, which will be held Friday, April 3, at the Two River Theater in Red Bank. There also will be two periods of online voting before that, which will help determine finalists and their score at the concert.

Last year, Tiffany Enemuo, a sophomore at American Christian School in Morris County, won first place for her original song, “Had It All.” Jermaine Bethea, a junior at Egg Harbor Township High School in Atlantic County, earned second place for his original song, “Wasting Time,” and Carolina Rial, a resident of Ridgefield in Bergen County and a freshman at Saint Dominic Academy in Jersey City, took home third place for her song, “Breaking Boundaries.”

Information, rules and entry forms are available at www.shoutdowndrugs.com. For more information, contact Diane Higgins at 973-467-2100 ext. 19 or email diane@drugfreenj.org.