Australian Women Dominating International Songwriting Competition

The finalists for the 2013 International Songwriting Competition have been announced and, once again, Australians appear in droves on the list of finalists in all manner of musical categories.

Much loved local artists like Missy Higgins, The Preatures, Alpine, Bertie Blackman and Calling All Cars appear alongside not-so-well-known artists like Blue Eyes Cry, Resin Moon, Danny McMaster and Shane Timmo to name but a few.

Of particular note this year is the huge number of Australian women who are represented in the finalists; with over half of the 45 Aussie finalists featuring females in prominent songwriting and performance roles.

We've put together a playlist of some of the nominated tracks, which you can access through Spotify below.

Subscribe here!

No Australians appear in the Instrumental, Latin, Pop/Top 40, R&B/Hip Hop and World categories, but we're represented everywhere else.

The full list of Aussie finalists is below. The judges – who include Tom Waits, Nas, Bernie Taupin, Brian Setzer, Garbage, Gerald Casale (from Devo), among many others – will decide on who take away their share of the $150,000 in cash, merchandise and services. Past winners include Aussies like Gotye and Kasey Chambers, and New Zealanders Kimbra and Gin Wigmore, as well as other international acts like Passenger and Bastille.

AAA

Aloft – Dave Crowe (Resin Moon) (Alice Springs, NT, Australia)

Gasoline – Christian O'Brien, Phoebe Baker, Louisa James (Alpine) (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Lo-Fi – Sophie Koh, Ben Lee, Brad Wood (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)

Mercy Killer – Bertie Blackman, Francois Tetaz (Northcote, VIC, Australia)

Set Me On Fire – Missy Higgins, Butterfly Boucher (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)

ADULT CONTEMPORARY

Please Go Lightly – Worldfly (Darwin, NT, Australia)

You And I – Damien Leith (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

AMERICANA

Lovin' In The Fall – Bex Chilcott (Ruby Boots) (Perth, WA, Australia)

Outta Here (Ballad Of Chris Green) – Cyndi Boste (Hepburn, VIC, Australia)

What We Want – Gena Rose Bruce (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)

BLUES

What's A Girl To Do – Iseula Hingano, Nathan Brett (Blue Eyes Cry) (Newport, VIC, Australia)

CHILDREN'S MUSIC

Animal Pals – Scott Langley (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Monsters – Scott Langley (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Ow Ow Ow – Jamie Saxe (The Mighty bUZZniks) (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)

COMEDY/NOVELTY

The 12 Drinking Days Of Christmas – Danny McMaster (Tallai, QLD, Australia)

COUNTRY

Flesh And Bone – Casey Barnes, Rick Price (Gold Coast, QLD, Australia)

Give Her The World – Adam Eckersley, Jason Reeves, Danelle Joy Leverett (Mannering Park, NSW, Australia)

DANCE/ELECTRONICA

Awake – Dave Crowe (Resin Moon) (Alice Springs, NT, Australia)

Beautiful Mistake – Haiydn Zafer (Nez Erok) (Perth, WA, Australia)

Listen To Soul, Listen To Blues – SAFIA (Canberra, ACT, Australia)

FOLK/SINGER-SONGWRITER

All In My Head – Missy Higgins, Butterfly Boucher (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)

Pray My Dear Daughter – Charles Jenkins (Charles Jenkins & The Zhivagos) (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)

GOSPEL/CHRISTIAN MUSIC

Release The Sound – Roma Waterman (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)

The One – JD Baxter, K Hickin (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)

JAZZ

Bunyips – Tony Barnard (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

My Lover And My Friend – Gregg Arthur, Casper Tromp (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

LYRICS ONLY

Billy's Dream – Tony King (Beautifully Mad) (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Closed Door – Shane Timmo (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)

MUSIC VIDEO

Boy – Bertie Blackman, Francois Tetaz (Northcote, VIC, Australia - Director: Quan Yeomans)

Everything You Wanted – Sebastian Cohen, Yves Roberts, Montgomery Cooper (Clubfeet) (Sydney, NSW, Australia - Director: Josh Thomas)

Falling Apart – Themba Thompson (The Khanz) (Sydney, NSW, Australia - Director: Ben Cox)

Loving Myself – Hairy Soul Man (Melbourne, VIC, Australia - Director: Kai Smythe)

PERFORMANCE

Mercy Killer – Bertie Blackman, Francois Tetaz (Northcote, VIC, Australia)

My Dark Crusade – Sophie Hanlon (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

ROCK

Is This How You Feel – Isabella Manfredi, Jack Moffitt, Thomas Champion, Luke Davison (The Preatures) (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Neon Cola Signs – Eric Robinson, Mike Willmett, James Laubscher, Daniel Murphy (My Fiction) (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)

Seven – Benjamin Dowd, Sam Reale, Jordan Hicks (Apes) (Bacchus Marsh, VIC, Australia)

The Night Has An Alibi – Wons Phreely (Perth, WA, Australia)

Werewolves – Calling All Cars (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)

TEEN

Ceaseless Goodbye – Imogen Clark (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Kiss You – Ruby Montey (Gold Coast, QLD, Australia)

Over The Fence – Andrea Kaden (Gold Coast, QLD, Australia)

UNSIGNED ONLY

Falling Apart – Themba Thompson (The Khanz) (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

My Dark Crusade – Sophie Hanlon (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Step Inside – Azaria Byrne, Kara Jayne, Jordan McDonald, Ronnie Simmonsa (The Art) (Sydney, NSW, Australia)