Theme: “Trenton’s Future”

We’re inviting artists to envision and express what a vibrant, thriving future looks like for the city of Trenton. Through music and video, we want you to tell a story of hope, possibility, and transformation — highlighting the people, places, dreams, and ideas that can shape a better tomorrow for our city.

Your music video might explore:

• Community Empowerment – unity, collaboration, neighborhood pride
• Youth and Education – opportunities for growth and learning
• Arts and Culture – a future filled with creativity and cultural expression
• Economic Development – thriving workers and local businesses, innovation, and entrepreneurship
• Healing and Resilience – overcoming challenges and reimagining a brighter path forward
• Environmental Justice & Clean Neighborhoods – a greener, more sustainable city
• Celebrating Trenton’s Identity – honoring what makes Trenton unique while looking forward

We encourage submissions that are creative, uplifting, and visionary. This is your opportunity to shine a light on the future you believe Trenton deserves — through your lyrics, sound, visuals, and storytelling. Whether your video is poetic, powerful, celebratory, experimental, or community-centered — we want to see your unique perspective on where Trenton is headed, and share it with the broader community.

This document describes the official requirements and rules of 120 East State’s Music Video Competition. By entering, entrants agree to be bound by these contest rules. 

120 East State reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify any entrant whose work fails to comply with the above provisions, and any subsequent provisions adopted by 120 East State.

Contestants must submit address, email, and phone number with submissions. Failure to include information may lead to disqualification. 

Applications must be signed. Signing the application reflects the applicant’s agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of the contest.

The organization welcomes creative and talented artists who can create a music video to showcase Trenton’s exciting future. The video must meet the following criteria: 

• No longer than 3 minutes
• Contains no profanity, explicit content, hate speech, offensive language or imagery
• All work must be original and cannot use copyrighted material of others.

• To be eligible, entrants must have a residential address of Trenton or Greater Trenton, defined as Ewing, Hamilton, and Lawrence Townships.
• • If you are under the age of 18 you must submit the parent/guardian express permission for you to participate and for your likeness, image and voice to be used in public. 
    • If a video features multiple participants and any of them are under 18, each under-18 participant must submit the parental/guardian consent form. 
    •  To download the 120 East State Music Contest Parent/Guardian Consent Form, please click here.
• Failure to identify under-18 participants and to provide parental/guardian consent forms for those participants  will disqualify the entrant.

1. Submissions must be made through the online submission process during the application window, between Friday, March 21, 2025 and Friday, May 2, 2025
2. Video must be fully original work of the entrants, who will represent that the video does not infringe upon the rights of any third party and that it does not violate any copyright.
3. Submissions must be in .mp4 or .mov format
4. Each entrant may only submit one video. 
5. Winner of the People’s Choice Award will be selected by a community vote. Community voting will occur from  June 4, 2025 – June 7, 2025.
6. Winner of the Artists’ Choice Award will be determined solely by panels of judges selected by the 120 East State Board of Directors. 
7. Winner of the Board’s Choice Award will be determined solely by the 120 East State Board of Directors. 
8. By submitting, entrant provides 120 East State with consent to publish work on 120 East State’s Youtube channel for contest purposes and public viewing after the contest.
9. Winning entrants consent to allow 120 East State to post work on 120 East State’s digital channels and platforms and to allow 120 East State to publicize their participation in the contest. 
10. All participants are invited to attend the award ceremony, to be held on June 14, 2025. Official event details will be announced via email no later than May 24, 2025. 
11. Winning entrants  in each category will be notified via email on June 13, 2025. 
12. First place prizes will be: 
    1. People’s Choice Award: $1,000
    2. Board’s Choice Award: $1,000
    3. Artists’ Choice Award: $1,000
13. 120 East State will recognize second and third place runners up at the awards ceremony on June 14, and will feature their videos on the 120 East State YouTube channel. 
14. Contact information provided by participants will be added to 120 East State’s contact database. 
15. Any personal information collected will only be used for the purposes of conducting this video contest. 120 East State will not sell or share any personal information with any third parties. 

120 East State is not responsible for lost, late, misdirected, incomplete, illegible, or otherwise unusable entries, including entries that are lost or unusable due to computer, internet, or electronic problems. 

Failure to submit a signed application is grounds for disqualification. Entrants under 18 must have their parents or guardians sign their application. Failure to have a parent or guardian sign the application is grounds for disqualification.