Young Songwriters of 2015 are revealed

Aidan Reid is winner of the 13-18 year old category of Song Academy’s Young Songwriter 2015

Winners of Song Academy’s annual songwriting competition for 7-18 year olds are announced and will perform live at Westfield, London

ong Academy’s Young Songwriter 2015 contest reached its conclusion this week, announcing that this year’s contest winners are Rosie Sullivan, aged 12 from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides with Runs From The Storm and Aidan Reid, aged 16 from Newbury in Berkshire with Battle Cry. The competition, for young people aged 7-18, received over 600 entries from across the UK and Ireland.

Entries were judged on the originality and quality, both lyrically and musically, and this year’s panel included: Tom Odell, Shahid Khan aka Naughty Boy, Eg White, Fraser T Smith, Nigel Wright, Josh Record, James Walsh, Barry Mason, Lyn Goddard, Jamie Theakston, Nicky Cox and Lou Rhodes.

Singer-songwriter Tom Odell said, “When I was 13 years old I started writing songs, and over the following years I became more and more obsessed with it. But the thing that always kept me awake at night was how to get them out there for people to hear them. This is why I think the Song Academy Young Songwriter competition is a great way to inspire and help through this process, and its something I wish had been around when I was starting out.”

Winner of the 13-18 year old category, Aidan Reid commented, “I can’t pinpoint exactly when I started songwriting but I’ve always loved writing, any type of writing not just songwriting so it was natural to me… I would say songwriting is an outlet, it’s very therapeutic for me, venting my frustrations and feelings. It is above all something I enjoy, it’s always just made sense.”

Song Academy is a young people’s singing and songwriting academy for both experienced and novice vocalists and writers. Workshops and after-school sessions are run across West London, with members developing their musicality, creative writing, composition and performance skills, before performing their songs with a professional band at end of term live shows.

Winners of Song Academy’s Young Songwriter 2015 competition will perform live in the main atrium of London’s Westfield shopping centre on Sunday 21 June. For more details and to watch highlights videos of Rosie and Aidan at EMI’s recording studio, with Tom Odell dropping in, visit www.songacademy.co.uk/says15

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