Songwriters Hall of Fame
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. Ultimately it intends to offer a museum but at present it exists only as a virtual museum on the Web [1]. It has an office in New York City, United States. It also holds workshops and showcases, and grants scholarships, to help develop new song writing talent.
New inductees are voted on annually. At each annual event, gifted and promising songwriters are awarded a scholarship called the Abe Olman Publisher's Award for Excellence in Songwriting, named for one of the founding members.
Alongside the induction of new songwriters are a variety of awards. Currently, the awards are the "Starlight Award" (for young artists who have already made an impression on the music industry), the "Johnny Mercer Award" (for artists who are already on the Songwriters Hall of Fame and have a number of outstanding works), the "Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award" (an award given to songwriters who have done a lot to increase the success of songs), "Abe Olman Publisher Award" (awarded to publishers who have had a lot of "famous" pieces) and the "Towering Song" award.
To date there have been 345 individuals inducted into the SHOF.