Alice Ivy, Amy Shark, Gang of Youths, Georgi Kay and Gordi all received multiple nods in the Shortlist for Vanda and Young, the world’s biggest first-place cash prize for a songwriting competition.

Sydney ARIA winners Gang of Youths hold the biggest share of the Shortlist pie with four tracks included. They are: ‘Do Not Let Your Spirit Wane’, ‘Let Me Down Easy’, ‘The Heart Is A Muscle’ and ‘What Can I Do If The Fire Goes Out?’

Watch Gang of Youths’ clip for ‘The Heart Is A Muscle’ below:

The 40 songwriters are now vying for the first-place cash prize of AU$50,000, courtesy of APRA AMCOS, Alberts and BMG, as well as an additional AU$5,000 Show Group travel package.

Two runners-up cash prizes are also on offer with second place receiving AU$10,000 thanks to AMPAL (Australasian Music Publishers Association) and third place taking home AU$5,000 courtesy of TIO‘s parent company Seventh Street Media.

Additionally, the competition will see a new prize slate this year of A$5,000 for the best ‘Unpublished’ work.

As noted by APRA AMCOS in the announcement this morning, 25 of the finalists are making their first time appearance – including Mallrat, G Flip, Angie McMahon, Dean Lewis and Bri Clark – and 22 of them are female or female-fronted.

Coming from all over the world, including the US, Canada, Hungary and Japan, the competition received entries from 3,296 songwriters, who entered 4,056 songs.

Their entry fees collectively contributed nearly AU$203,000 to NordoffRobbins Music Therapy Australia (NRMTA).

Here is the 2018 Vanda and Young Songwriting Competition shortlist in alphabetical order:

PERFORMER / SONG

Abbey Gardner – Weight Of Feeling
Adam Eckersley & Brooke McClymont – Train Wreck
Ainslie Wills – Running Second
Alex Lahey – I Love You Like A Brother
Alfie Arcuri – Same
Alice Ivy – Get Me A Drink
Alice Ivy – Chasing Stars
Amy Shark – Weekends
Amy Shark – Adore
Angie McMahon – Slow Mover
Asha Jefferies – Chaos
Bri Clark – Giving Up
Cookin’ On 3 Burners – Real Life Baby
CXLOE – Monster
Dean Lewis – Be Alright
Florian Star – Crossed Lover
G Flip – About You
Gang of Youths  – Do Not Let Your Spirit Wane
Gang of Youths – Let Me Down Easy
Gang of Youths – The Heart Is A Muscle
Gang of Youths – What Can I Do If The Fire Goes Out?
Georgi Kay – Guilty Pleasures
Georgi Kay – Special
Gordi – Heaven I Know
Gordi – On My Side
Hatchie – Sure
Holly Arrowsmith – Love Together
Holy Holy – True Lovers
Dennis Dowlut and Maxwell Bidstrup – Paper Planes
Jack Carty – Hospital Hill
King IV – Bump
Mallrat – Better
Maya Jupiter – Inshallah
Middle Kids – Mistake
Oh Pep! – Parallel
Ruby Fields – I Want
Ruel – Don’t Tell Me
Tia Gostelow – That’s What You Get
Tim Hansen – Don’t Be A Dick
Timothy Bowen – Anchor

The winning songs will be judged by a range music industry professionals including Daniel Johns, KLP, Montaigne, and representatives from Billboard, Universal Music, triple j Unearthed and more.

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This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.