Congratulations to all our Session Three 2026 Lyric Contest winners. Read the winning lyrics for first through fourth place, below.
CLICK HERE to enter the 2026 Session Four Lyric Contest.
Videos by American Songwriter
1st Place – “Nowhere Tonight”
By: Jeff Drayton
Verse 1
Lake through the glass it’s as grey as your eyes
Time taps a rhythm of patient goodbyes
Our chairs on the terrace stare out at the shore
I keep setting tables for two as before
Verse 2
Rain on the window and tears on my tongue
Her shadow still falls where the old photos hung
The hallway holds nothing but dust and the dark
And somewhere a door swings its slow creaky arc
Chorus
Rooms that remember what I can’t forget
Rising from water your tempest hair wet
A fragrance a whisper a trick of the light
You’re everywhere here and I’m nowhere tonight
Verse 3
Your dress in the wardrobe it still holds your shape
I trace on the fabric like something might wake
Our bed is still made on the side where you slept
Each morning the creases like promises kept
Chorus
Rooms that remember what I can’t forget
Rising from water your tempest hair wet
A fragrance a whisper a trick of the light
You’re everywhere here and I’m nowhere tonight
Bridge
I walk past the treeline the hills rolling on
The world keeps on turning like nothing is gone
The fields stretch away and the sky opens wide
There’s no letting go and there’s nowhere to hide
Verse 4
A voice in the silence I follow it there
Just curtains that billow in nobody’s air
It’s all a museum of all that we were
A fading exhibit with fragments of her
Final Chorus
Rooms that remember what I can’t forget
Rising from water your tempest hair wet
A fragrance a whisper a trick of the light
You’re everywhere here and I’m nowhere tonight
Since 1984, American Songwriter’s Lyric Contest has helped aspiring songwriters get noticed and have fun. Enter the 2026 Lyric Contest today before the deadline:
2nd Place – “The bravest thing”
By: Daya Singh
V1
The TV glows blue in the kitchen at midnight
A map slowly turning to red
The late night news keeps talking in circles
Still running around in my head
Somewhere a kid hears the sound of the sirens
Somewhere a mother can’t sleep
And all of us trying to make sense of the noise
In a world that won’t let us breathe
Pre-chorus
And the heart is a compass that trembles in storms
But nobody taught us which way leads home
Chorus
So we sing through the noise of the wires and warnings
Through the headlines rewriting our fears
Through the prophets of panic on twenty-four channels
Selling doubt like souvenirs
And maybe the miracle isn’t redemption
Or angels descending above
Maybe the bravest thing left in the wreckage
Is remembering how to love
V2
Morning comes in through the cracks in the curtains
Coffee goes cold in my hand
I read the same line in the paper three times
Trying to understand
A child in the street keeps laughing and running
Like nothing at all has gone wrong
And I stand there watching the world keep turning
Wondering where we belong
And in the stillness beneath all the shouting
In places no headlines describe
I feel my own heart beating faster
Learning what it takes to survive
Bridge
Maybe the world was never as certain
As all of the stories we’re told
Maybe the fear that’s moving between us
Is older than borders and gold
But I’ve seen a stranger reach out in the darkness
When everything else fell apart
And sometimes the smallest kindness
Can ease a terrified heart
Chorus
So we sing through the noise of the wires and warnings
Through the headlines feeding our fears
Through the prophets of panic on twenty-four channels
Selling doubt year after year
And maybe the miracle isn’t redemption
Or angels descending above
Maybe the bravest thing left in the wreckage
Is remembering how to love again
3rd Place – “The In Betweens”
By: Amy Clay
The In-Betweens
Verse 1
No one’s talkin’ ‘bout the time
You looked at me and smiled
That second just before I walked away
Or when you squeezed my hand in yours
Just to let me know that
Everything was gonna be okay
There’s no picture in a frame
Of us standin’ in the kitchen
Doin’ dishes on a random Tuesday night
And we’re not winnin’ an award
For when we’re sittin’ in the dark tryin’ to
Figure out how to make things right
Chorus
Not all smiles and filtered light
Behind the scenes is a little less bright
The in-betweens get missed sometimes when we’re movin’ way too fast
Like scenery flyin’ past… the in-betweens
Verse 2
Like that first sip of coffee
On a rainy Sunday morning
When you finally got a little time to spare
And the space between the last note and the first note of a song
When there’s a ring of silence in the air
It’s pickin’ right back up
With a friend you haven’t seen in years like
No time has passed at all
And the wet nose of a furry friend
Nudging you to play and
Bringin’ you that old chewed-up ball
Chorus
Not all smiles and filtered light
Behind the scenes is a little less bright
The in-betweens get missed sometimes when we’re movin’ way too fast
Like scenery flyin’ past… the in-betweens
Bridge
Stay a while and walk with me
Let’s linger a little longer
It’s the glue that binds the milestones
It’s the in-betweens that make us stronger
Verse 3
Like singin’ in the car at the top of our lungs and
Makin’ up all of our own words
The morning sunlight pourin’ through the dusty window pane and
Listenin’ to the story of the birds
Like knowin’ when a little space for someone that you love is
Sometimes the best thing you can do
It’s that feelin’ late on Friday afternoon after a long week
And knowin’ that I’m comin’ home to you
Chorus / Outro
Not all smiles and filtered light
Behind the scenes is a little less bright
The in-betweens get missed sometimes when we’re movin’ way too fast
Like scenery flyin’ past… the in-betweens
Like scenery flyin’ past… the in-betweens
Since 1984, American Songwriter’s Lyric Contest has helped aspiring songwriters get noticed and have fun. Enter the 2026 Lyric Contest today before the deadline:
4th Place – “The Man I’m Trying to Be”
By: Jason Williams
I’ve been running from shadows I made on my own
Mistakes that still follow no matter how grown
There were nights I was someone I don’t want to see
A stranger staring back in the mirror at me
But you took that broken man in your steady hands
Loved the part of me I didn’t understand
And every time I fall short of who you need
I hear your heart say Come back to me
I ain’t the man I want to be yet
But I’m fighting every demon I’ve met
I’m letting go of the weight that’s been dragging me
Cause love like yours don’t come easily
My past ain’t gone but it don’t own me
No I’m learning how to stand and breathe
I ain’t perfect but I’m finally seeing
The man I’m trying to be
You’ve seen my bitterness my pride my doubt
The walls I built just to shut you out
But you stayed through storms I brought to your door
Held on to me when I’d have walked before
Now every promise that I broke I’m mending slow
You deserve the man that I’m starting to know
And I won’t let the ghosts of who I was
Steal the future we’re dreaming of
I ain’t the man I want to be yet
But I’m fighting every demon I’ve met
I’m letting go of the weight that’s been dragging me
Cause love like yours don’t come easily
My past ain’t gone but it don’t own me
No I’m learning how to stand and breathe
I ain’t perfect but I’m finally seeing
The man I’m trying to be
There’s a fire in me rising from your grace
Burning out the lies I used to face
And God knows you’ve pulled me through the dark
You lit the change that’s in my heart
I ain’t the man I want to be yet
But I’m climbing every mountain of regret
I’m stepping forward leaving who I was behind
A better man standing in your light this time
My past ain’t gone but it don’t own me
And my family deserves the best of me
I ain’t perfect but someday you’ll see
I’m becoming the man I’m trying to be
Since 1984, American Songwriter’s Lyric Contest has helped aspiring songwriters get noticed and have fun. Enter the 2026 Lyric Contest today before the deadline:
Honorable Mentions:
“Being a Farmer”
By Todd Myszka
“Cowboys & Sad Songs”
By Austin Sanders
“Dirt Rich”
By Lisa Simmons, Mac Millen, Steve Purcell and Brandon Pasion
“Forgive”
By Kevin Cullinan
“I’m Living On Pennies (’Cause Nickels Ain’t Worth a Dime)”
By Michael Carver
“Let Her Grow”
By Kevin Butler
“Listen and Remember”
By Chris Genzardi
“Story of These Stones”
By Matt Heaser
“That Memory Has a Heartbeat”
By Seth Saunders
“We Are the Refugees”
By Brian Estes
“Wrong Side Of Right”
By Chris Nelson