News July 17, 2019

Matt Corby & Dann Hume collect top prize in Vanda & Young song comp

The 2019 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition has awarded its top prize to songwriters Matt Corby and Dann Hume for ‘Miracle Love.’

Both will share the $50,000 cash prize courtesy of APRA AMCOS, Alberts and BMG – the largest first-place prize for any songwriting competition in the world.

“This song was a special one for Matt and I,” said Hume. “[It was] one of the first songs we wrote together after a few years between his albums.

Check out ‘Miracle Love’ by Matt Corby:

Hume and Corby added: “We are so grateful that such a positive song burrowed into the hearts and ears of our peers and genuinely humbled by this moment.”

‘Miracle Love’ was a standout track from Corby’s acclaimed second album Rainbow Valley, which debuted at #4 on the ARIA Albums Chart last November.

But it took a little bit of time for Corby to be convinced of the song’s merits, and after days of re-working it with producer and co-writer Hume, Corby said in an interview with triple j, “I couldn’t deny that it made me feel really good.”

Check out the making of ‘The Middle’ on NY Times:

The competition’s $ 10,000-second-place prize, furnished by AMPAL, goes to the Grammy-nominated LA-based songwriter and 2019 APRA Songwriter of the Year honouree, Sarah Aarons for ‘The Middle’.

In third place, and the winner of $5,000 courtesy of Aon, is Brisbane’s Sahara Beck with ‘Here We Go Again’ written with producer Tony Buchen.

Check out ‘Here We Go Again’ by Sahara Beck:

In the second year that the $5,000 Unpublished prize has been awarded, 21-year-old Melbourne singer-songwriter Kaiit takes out the honour for ‘Miss Shiney,’ which she co-wrote with Michael Lee Chan, Mohamed Komba, Vincent Goodyer and Nicholas Martin.

The winning songs were narrowed down from 40 shortlisted finalists and an overall pool of 3,683 entries from 48 countries, by a panel of songwriters and music industry judges from media, publishing, labels, and music streaming services.

In 2019, songwriters worldwide collectively raised $184,150 for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia via their $50 entry fee per song.

All money raised goes directly to fund the organisation’s transformative programs, and in 10 years of the competition’s existence, entrants have contributed over $1.2 million.