Earlier this year, we were delighted to be asked to join the judging panel for Song Academy’s Young Songwriter 2018 competition alongside some of our former guests like Guy Chambers, Imelda May, Tom Odell and Eg White. Now in its 7th year, the competition is the leading international songwriting competition for 8-18 year olds that champions the creative talents of young people, gets their songs heard and unites young songwriters worldwide.

Judging the 2018 Young Songwriter competition was a fascinating experience, not only because of the wonderful breadth of talented writers who submitted work, but also because of the incredible range of responses that the songs elicited from the judges. It was heartening to see each judge devote such a great deal of time and attention to thinking about the qualities of each song, and whatever the outcome, all finalists should be proud to have reached that stage of the competition. We are delighted to play a small role in such a fantastic scheme led by such a generous organisation. The opportunity that it offers young songwriters to be heard by leading figures in the music industries is second to none.

After some careful deliberation, the winners of the competition have now been announced and you can get a full run down at the Song Academy Website. However, we wanted to give a mention to Zoe Efstathiou, winner of the 8-12 year old category with her song “All She Has To Do’. Isabella Weinstein took first place in the 13-18 year category with her song ‘Bad Boy’, while Tabitha Jade received a special award for vocals & production for her song ‘Trust Me’. The winner of the International category was Kevin Jones with his song ‘Clara’.

All UK & Ireland winners, finalists and selected highly commended entrants will perform in The Young Songwriter 2018 Live Showcase on Sunday 10th June, 2-5pm in London at Westfield, W12.

Congratulations to all winners and runners up!