With the big New Year’s blowout now in the rearview mirror and 2026 fully upon us, the music business will turn its attention to the first major — and biggest — event on the calendar for the year: the Grammy Awards. And along with the Grammys — set for Sunday, Feb. 1 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles — is Grammy week, the days-long celebration of music and the industry that precedes what the Recording Academy fondly calls Music’s Biggest Night.
As part of that, Billboard and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) will return to present their annual Songwriter Awards event. This year, Grammy Award-winning DJ, producer and songwriter Mustard will be honored with the Vanguard award, in recognition for his many accolades throughout his career. Taking home the coveted Songwriter of the Year honor will be Laura Veltz, who is nominated for songwriter of the year, non-classical at this year’s Grammys for her work with the likes of Maren Morris, Josh Ross, Jessie Murph, Lauren Spencer Smith, Demi Lovato and more. Breakthrough Songwriter will be Ejae, who catapulted to fame as co-writer of “Golden” from the Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack, among many other credits this past year.
Song of the Year honors will go to “Ordinary,” performed by Alex Warren, who will be honored alongside his co-writers Adam Yaron, Cal Shapiro and Mags Duval. Debut Artist of the Year will be sombr, who is nominated for best new artist at the Grammys this year (as is Warren), while Country Artist-Songwriter of the Year honors will go to Megan Moroney. Finally, Artist-Songwriter of the Year will be Bon Iver.
The NMPA-Billboard-hosted Songwriter Awards event will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 28 from 6:30-10:30pm PT at the Avalon Hollywood. An invite-only soiree, the Awards will host guests including songwriters, artists, lawyers, managers, and executives from publishers, labels, digital services and others throughout the evening. It is the largest songwriter-focused event hosted during Grammy Week.
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