American Songwriter has announced the winners of its Session Five 2026 Lyric Contest, publishing the winning entries from first through fourth place. The competition invites songwriters to submit original lyrics for judging, with winning pieces showcased on the publication's website; entries for the subsequent Session Six contest are now open.

The featured lyrics span deeply personal themes, including a family Fourth of July gathering shadowed by a young serviceman's impending deployment, a reflection on a mother's unfulfilled dream of travel and escape, and a multi-verse account of a couple building a rural homestead from recycled materials over many years. Each piece uses recurring choruses and vivid imagery to build emotional narratives around loss, unspoken truths and hard-won resilience.