Gawenda took out the $50,000 prize for Saint Joan, recorded by his band Husky. The love song was based on the biblical tale of Jonah and the whale. He said he was still not sure how he would spend the prize.
One time The Age journalist Gawenda, who is signed to Mushroom Music, last year won the APRA Professional Development Award and named APRA AMCOS Ambassador.
He said, “I’m honoured to win the Vanda and Young Songwriting Competition. That the competition supports Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy, a great cause, makes it particularly rewarding. It is a big thrill for me for Saint Joan to have been chosen from among so many great songs.”
Meg Mac, triple j’s 2014 Unearthed Artist of the Year, took the $10,000 second prize – donated by AMPAL (Australasian Music Publishers Association) – for Roll Up Your Sleeves. She plans to use her win to buy a new keyboard to use to write more songs.
Coincidentally, both Gawenda and Mac were in Perth when the news was announced: he was performing there, she was on holiday. Coincidentally also, they live in the same Melbourne suburb.
The third prize of $5,000 went to David Le’aupepe of Sydney band Gang of Youth for Poison Drum. The $2,000 Encouragement Award was received by Sydney’s Andy Bull for Baby I Am Nobody Now. The $2,000 was donated by last year’s winners The Preatures, and also entitles Bull to a production and A&R feedback package with last year’s second prizewinner, Robert Conley.
This year’s competition raised $170,000 for the non-profit Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy from the $50 “donation” made when songwriters enter their song. In 2014, the competition got 3,400 entries from 1,949 songwriters.
