Entries Open For 2021 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition

Offering artists a “career-boosting cash prize”, Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition entries are now open.

The annual event will see one winner claim $50,000, while second place scores $10,000 and third receives $5,000.

Additionally, the $5,000 AMPAL Emerging Songwriter Prize (last year awarded to WA artist Carla Geneve) will make its return as 10 runner-up prizes of $1,000 each are distributed. 

The coveted first place prize was awarded to Thelma Plum in 2020 for Better In Blak, which was one of more than 4,000 entries submitted last year.

“Vanda & Young was kind to me early in my career when I received a runner-up prize for Breathe In Breathe Out, I could never have imagined then that one day I would win!” Plum said upon winning the prize.

Other previous winners of the competition (named after iconic songwriters and founding members of The Easybeats, Harry Vanda and the late George Young), include Amy Shark, Matt Corby, Gretta Ray and more.

Entry fees will once again be donated to Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia (Noro).

“On behalf of Sony Music Publishing Australia, we are thrilled to be partnering with Alberts in support of the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition,” Sony Music Publishing Australia Managing Director Damian Trotter said.

“As a music publisher, we regard it as a particular privilege to be honouring the legacy of two of this country’s greatest ever songwriters, while at the same time, raising much needed funds for Nordoff-Robbins’ life-changing music therapy programs.”

Entries close 11:59pm AEDT on October 8, and it's expected a judging panel comprised of influential artists, producers, media and music industry professionals will be announced soon.

For more details, head over to the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition’s website.