Britain’s got talent, well that’s pretty much a given really, but I think this is probably a first even for a hot bed of musical creativity such as ours. What am I talking about? Well, details have just been announced of the winning entries in the 2009 International Songwriting Competition, a US based competition open to songwriters around the world. I’m proud, though just a little bit surprised to announce, that the Brits did really well in this comp, with many entries gaining prizes, or special mentions.
Their entries were judged by a high profile panel of music artists, and industry people, which included Jeff Beck, Steve Winwood, Jerry Lee Lewis, Amanda Ghost, Robbie Williams, and Senior Execs from the likes of Sony Nashville, and Walt Disney Records. They had around 15,000 entries from 100 countries, and they chose (drum roll please!) a UK entrant as their Grand Prize Winner!
King Charles from London, apparently bowled over the judges with his rock song ‘Love Lust’, and became the first UK entrant to scoop the top prize. He takes home a cash prize and a host of musical equipment from the competition sponsors. He tops the list of UK prize winners which also included: Ray Clayton from London who took top spot in the R&B/Hip Hop category with ‘My Life’, Simon Fagan from Dublin who topped the performance category with ‘Never Really Cried’. There was also Irish success in the folk singer/songwriter category with Keith Forde’s track ‘Pop Them Pills’, which gained third place, while Scottish born Moray Mclaren also took a third place prize, in the music video category with ‘We Got Time’. There was also a list of 11 Brits who were awarded ‘Honourable Mentions’ for their tracks in various categories. All in all, 2009 was a resounding success for British songwriting talent in this competition, but what about 2010? Well that is down to you, so if you think you’ve got songwriting talent, it’s time to get composing, and submitting for the 2010 competition. Details are available at http://www.songwritingcompetition.com and you can find out more about all the 2009 winners at http://www.songwritingcompetition.com/winners.htm
Congratulations to all the winners in 2009, and good luck to everyone entering the 2010 competition.