Presented by the Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network, in partnership with Global Partners in Care
We’re inviting songwriters, musicians, and storytellers across the region to help us create something meaningful: a song for palliative care. This song will be a creative way to reach people with the meaning of palliative care – to raise awareness about palliative care to new audiences. This is also be an anthem for the Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Conference — not just for the APHC27OPCC in Adelaide, but every APHC conference to come.
At its heart, palliative care is about reducing preventable suffering — meeting people with compassion and easing suffering wherever it can be eased, not just at the end of life. This isn’t a song about loss. It’s a song about hope and compassion — reflecting the strength, warmth, and human connection found in that work.
The Idea Behind the Song
Palliative care is often misunderstood as care only for the dying. In truth, it’s about reducing preventable suffering wherever it shows up — physical, emotional, social — through care that meets people early, and often, with compassion.
We’re asking participants to write with that idea in mind. What does it sound like when suffering is met with care instead of left unaddressed? What does hope sound like? There’s no single right answer — we want to hear how songwriters across the region interpret it.
Prizes
- Champion – USD $2,000 + travel support to attend the conference
- 1st Runner-Up – USD $1,000
- 2nd Runner-Up – USD $500
Submission Period
10 Aug- 31 Dec 2026
What to Submit
A complete music track — original lyrics paired with original music, fully produced. Instrumentals-only or lyrics-only entries won’t be eligible; we’re looking for a finished song.
Your Connection to Palliative Care
As part of your submission, we invite you to share a short reflection: What is your connection to palliative care? Whether you’re a healthcare provider, a patient, a family member or caregiver, or someone who has simply been touched by this field of care, we’d love to hear your story.
You don’t need a personal or professional experience with palliative care to enter, but we want to hear why it’s important to you. What does palliative care mean to you? Why are you writing this song to help raise awareness of palliative care? Submissions that speak to a genuine, lived connection to palliative care will be given added consideration during judging.
Live Performance (Optional)
Submitters are encouraged — though not required — to perform their song for a palliative care audience and submit a recording of the performance. This gives you a chance to practice your song and see if it resonates with your audience. If you don’t have access to a local palliative care community or event, a virtual or remote performance is also welcome. Let us know below if you would like assistance connecting with an audience to do this performance.
This step isn’t required to enter or win, but submissions that include a performance recording will be given added consideration during judging.
Judges
Dr Ken Chong is a chart topping, multi-award winning Singaporean producer / songwriter / composer / arranger / lyricist / music researcher & lecturer. His accolades include Apple Music Best Song of 2016 (China) (Apple Music 2016 年度中国区最佳歌曲) for his song, ‘Rainbow Bot (彩虹金刚)’ sung by Mandopop queen, Stefanie Sun (孙燕姿), which topped iTunes/Apple Music charts in 6 territories (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore & Malaysia). The song also peaked at #26 on Billboard’s China V Chart, and won Douban(豆瓣) ‘single of 2016 given the most attention (豆瓣音樂2016年度最受關注EP/單曲)’ award. In addition, Stefanie Sun’s 2016 EP with the same ‘Rainbow Bot (彩虹金刚)’ title, on which the song was released, won ‘Best EP’ at FreshMusicAwards 2017. Besides that, Ken is the winner of “Top Local Instrumental Contemporary Music” award at 25th COMPASS Awards Presentation 2022 for the track, “Close-Hauled”. On top of that, Ken is the top winner of the 2008 Phoenix Awards (by Ad Asia) for ‘Original Music Score’ for the TV commercial, ‘Family’ released by Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports in Singapore. Ken is also the grand prize winner of the Singaporean radio channel FM 100.3 ‘My Production’ Local Music Writing Competition 1999, for his original song, ‘You Are Trash’.
Corinne Starr (formerly Gibbons) is a multi-award-winning artist, composer, educator and internationally recognised creator of transformative music-led team-building experiences.Through her Discover Your Voice experiences, Corinne has brought more than 50,000 people together to discover the extraordinary power of their shared voice.
A gifted songwriter, she specialises in composing bespoke, multilingual songs that honour culture, identity, organisational values and our shared humanity. Her award-winning album MELT, created in partnership with National Geographic, reflects her lifelong commitment to music that honours both people and planet.As a passionate Champion of Children’s Voices, Corinne creates platforms that unite and empower young people across cultures, countries and languages.Recently shortlisted for a World Education Award, her work is recognised for its innovative intersection of music, education and human connection.
At the heart of everything Corinne creates is one enduring intention: to bring people together through music and celebrate the beauty of our shared humanity.
Judge 3 – more details to be announced soon
Judging Criteria
- Vocal Melody Crafting & Musicality (30%)
- Lyrics (English) Crafting (30%)
- Alignment & Relevance to the Mission of APHN (40%) — including how well the song reflects the spirit of reducing preventable suffering through hope and compassion.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI)
The APHC27OPCC Songwriting Competition celebrates originality, creativity, and authentic artistic expression. Participants are therefore expected to ensure that the core creative elements of their submission are the result of their own work.
The use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) is permitted only in a limited capacity. Specifically:
- Lyrics and vocal melody: GAI must not generate or contribute a substantial portion of the lyrics or vocal melody. These core creative elements must be primarily conceived and created by the participant(s).
- Music production: GAI may be used to assist with music arrangement, instrumentation, mixing, mastering, or other production-related processes, provided that the underlying composition remains the participant’s original work.
All participants must sign a declaration confirming that:
- The submitted work is original and does not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party.
- Any use of GAI complies with the competition’s permitted uses.
- All use of GAI has been fully disclosed.
Where GAI has been used in any aspect of the submission, participants must provide a clear and transparent written explanation describing:
- the AI tool(s) used;
- the specific purpose(s) for which they were used; and
- the extent of the AI’s contribution to the final work.
To protect the integrity of the competition, the Organising Committee reserves the right to request evidence of authorship where there is a reasonable basis to do so. Such evidence may include, but is not limited to, original lyric drafts, revision history, songwriting notes, notation sketches, voice memos, project files, Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) session files, or other documentation demonstrating the creative development of the work.
Failure to disclose the use of GAI, providing false or misleading information, or failing to provide satisfactory evidence of authorship upon request may result in disqualification at the sole discretion of the Organising Committee.
Why This Matters
The winning song will be played for the first time at APHC27OPCC in Adelaide, with the aim of it becoming a lasting song for future APHC conferences. This is your chance to give a voice, and a melody, to the compassion at the heart of reducing preventable suffering across the Asia Pacific and the world.
