The first World Wood Day (WWD) songwriting competition received 11 entries in total. During the review process, the jury committee was surprised and touched to find a number of works with brilliant musicality. Three works received the highest scores during the first review meeting and the committee decided to have a second meeting to further review the three works. During the final meeting, the committee decided to award to the three works of different types and personalities that were equally impressive. Although the Grand Prize was not chosen, the committee promise that it will still be a pleasure for everyone to listen to the three awarded songs that greatly reflect the theme "Annual Ring." The awarded works will be released online soon. We sincerely hope that through these songs the importance of wood and the splendor of wood culture will take root in the hearts of more people around the world.

None

Tree Hymn

Hirokazu Saito

Writer	Hirokazu Saito
	Occupation: Sound creator／Sound designer. Birthplace: Gunma, Japan. Year of birth: 1984.

The Tree of Time - Annual Ring

Katsumi Shougaki

Writer (Music)	Yumiko Takashima
	Born in Fukui, Japan and currently living in Chiba, she grew up surrounded by piano and singing with her music-loving parents. While studying classical music at music college, she also loved popular music. At a music school, she met Shogaki and formed the pop music unit "Kyukatodoke". In the unit, she is in charge of main vocals, piano, keyboards, and composition. Winner of the 7th Funabashi Music Street Song Contest.
Writer (Lyrics)	Katsumi Shougaki
	Born and currently resides in Chiba, Japan. From junior high school to college, he enjoyed various kinds of music such as folk, rock, classical, and jazz, but after joining the workforce, he took a break, but has since resumed his musical activities. At a music school, he met Takashima and formed the pop unit "Kyukatodoke". In the unit, he plays wind synthesizer, guitar, chorus, and writes lyrics. He also runs a live bar and supports the local music culture.

Annual Rings

Saki Morita

Writer	Saki Morita
	Vocalist and pianist at Japan Air Self-Defense Force Central Music Band. Studied at Aichi University of the Arts, Faculty of Music, Dept of Vocal Music and Aichi Prefectural Meiwa High School Music Dept.

Annual Ring

To create high-quality songs that reflect the culture of wood and to intrigue people all over the world to be interested in the culture of wood.

International Wood Culture Society (IWCS)
Japan Wood Culture Society (JWCS)

Japanese Traditional Music Institute (Senzoku Gakuen College of Music)
Japan Artificial Intelligence Music Society (JAIMS)

World Wood Day Foundation (WWDF)

Competition Announcement Entry Submission Award Announcement Online Concert

Grand Prize
President of International Wood Culture Society Award Runner-Up
Representative Director of Japan Wood Culture Society Award

Kosuke Yamashita	Composer and arranger; Music producer and conductor of films, television, video games, animation and theatre; Director of Japan Composers & Arrangers Association (JCAA)
Yumi Yoshuimoto	Prolific Lyricist and Author
Masataka Matsuo	Professor of Senzoku Gakuen College of Music; Composer, conductor and music planner

1. Open to all, no restrictions on professional status, age or nationality.
2. Any entry submission must have not been created before 2010 and never been performed at any public concert. However, a submission is allowed if it has been submitted to other previous contests but not been awarded.
3. The submission will be mainly judged on the sound source and the content of lyrics. The melody, accompaniment, singing, performance, recording situation etc. will be comprehensively judged. The submitted sound source of entries shall be able to display at the online concert after the winner announcement.
4. There is no limit to the number of entries for one person/group, but an entry fee of JPY5,000 (US$50) will be charged for each entry submission.
5. Any submitted work must be original and created by the submitter. If a submitted work is copied or is plagiarized, the work will be disqualified even after it has been awarded.
6. Please submit the lyrics in English or Japanese.
7. If the submitted lyrics are not originally made by the submitter, please obtain the copyright permission from the author before your submission.
8. It is the responsibility of the entrants to resolve the copyright and related rights associated with the music sources and materials of your submission.
9. Changes or additions to works or data are not permitted once the submission is made.
10. Be sure to keep one copy of your submitted work in case of any unforeseen condition or accident.
11. The entry fee will not be refunded for any reason after the payment is made.
12. Please note that the names, photos, and resumes of winners and winning works will be published on the composition website.
13. The awarded works are scheduled to perform online at the "World Wood Day 2021 International Songwriting Competition Gala-Concert". There will be no honorarium for the performance.
14. The details of the above item 13. will be discussed with the awardees individually.
15. Please note that the regulations and schedule are subject to change and will be updated on the official competition website and SNS.

1. Only online submission is accepted. Please upload the sound sources and music score to Dropbox, Firestorage, etc. and provide the URL on the online entry form.
2. Please upload the file of lyrics to the online entry form.
3. Please name the submitted files as following:
   Full name_Entry Song Title.mp3.m4a.pdf.jpg.txt.doc.docx
4. Please make online payment of the entry fee by the payment URL included in the notification email which will be sent to you after the online submission form is completed.
5. The entry submission will be accepted only after all the processes stated above are fully completed.

1. The submitted sound sources will be used only for the judgment process of this competition.
2. After the judgment process is completed and the results are announced, the submitted sound sources will be permanently deleted by the end of 2021.
3. As for the awarded works, according to the rules and regulations, the submitted sound sources will be preserved for the release on the competition website.
4. The retention period will be discussed and mutually agreed between the organizers and winners.