APRA AMCOS and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia (NRMTA) are proud to announce the winner of 2013 Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition is Sydney singer/songwriter Isabella Manfredi with the song Is This How You Feel? by The Preatures.
The Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition is one of the world’s most prestigious songwriting competitions with a first prize of A$50,000.00 provided courtesy of APRA AMCOS and music company, Alberts. This is the largest first prize for any songwriting competition in the world.
When asked how it felt to take out the top prize Isabella Manfredi said today “Astounding! Torrential! I cannot believe it. The boys and I are totally thrilled and very grateful!”
Sydney based songwriter/ producer, Robert Conley, has taken out second prize with the song Paper Thin and will receive A$10,000 thanks to AMPAL (Australasian Music Publishers Association).
The judging panel of 25 industry professionals was so overwhelmed by the calibre of this year’s entries they found themselves with a tie for third place between Thelma Plum for Breathe In Breathe Out and Jasmine Nelson for Keep Her Close. Video game publisher, UBISOFT, have provided the A$5,000 prize money for this category and rather than split the prize, APRA AMCOS have graciously announced they will kick in a further A$5,000 so both winners receive the full prize money.
APRA AMCOS CEO, Brett Cottle, said “There’s a lasting value in the work that Vanda & Young winners contribute to the Australian music scene and body of work. Knowing that we’ve invested in the creative careers of past and present winners and that the funds raised by this competition bring healing and connection through music therapy rounds this out as a really worthwhile endeavour for APRA AMCOS. We’re proud to be associated with it and extend our congratulations to this year’s winners”.
2013 marks the third iteration of the biennial Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition and Isabella Manfredi joins a select group of recipients that includes Megan Washington (2009) and Kimbra Johnson (2011).
To enter the competition applicants paid an entry fee of $50.00 per submission with ALL money raised going directly to supporting Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia. We are delighted to reveal that this year’s competition has raised an astounding $166,000 for this very worthy cause. All songs are given a unique code when submitted and the judges are only able to view this code and the song title. This means that all entries are anonymous until the final winners are revealed. At no stage is the identity of any applicant revealed to the Judges until the 35 finalists were announced.
The complete winners’ details are:
1st Place – A$50,000: Is This How You Feel?
Isabella Manfredi (Unpublished)
Co-writers: Luke Davison, Thomas Champion and Jack Moffitt (The Preatures)
2nd Place – A$10,000: Paper Thin
Robert Conley (Published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Co-writers: Alex Hope, Robby De Sa
Equal 3rd Place – A$5,000: Breathe In Breathe Out
Thelma Plum (Published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Equal 3rd Place – A$5,000: Keep Her Close
Jasmine Nelson (UK) (Unpublished)
Visit www.vandayoungsongcomp.com for more information.