18 April 2011 - 0 Comments
Judging for the 2011 MLT Songwriting Awards took place behind closed doors on Friday with over 70 songs entered; the judging panel had their work cut out to whittle them down to 10 finalist songs.
This year’s judges (John Meddings, Andrea Cruickshank, Marcel Rodeka and Helen Van der Linden) described the standard of entries as extremely high, with some very ardent discussions taking place throughout the day, as they worked rigorously to come up with the finalists.
John Medding’s explained, “We (the judges) are looking for simple melody, focused lyrics, attention to detail and originality of the song. The MLT Songwriting Awards are highly regarded within the industry as an important platform to get your songwriting recognised and in doing so provide the artists with the affirmation to take their songwriting to the next level.”
The 2011 MLT Songwriting Finalists (in no particular order are);
Songwriter: From Song Title
Kristin MacDonald Tokonui Witness
Mark Casey, Lavina Williams Auckland Four Letter Word
Matthew McNeilly Blenheim It Still Gets Me
Aaron Jury Kaitangata 29
Jeremy Dundas Gore There’s No You In Us
B Turner Akaroa Maybe
Kristin MacDonald Tokonui Sorry
Holly Arrowsmith Arrowtown Heavenly Lights
Georgie Northcoat Christchurch Grey
Monica Rose Yeoman Wellington C’est la vie
The MLT Songwriters Trust has combined the MLT Songwriters Awards with the NZ Country Music Awards this year to ensure continuity and sustainability of the Country Music Awards.
Bernie McKone, Chairman of the NZ Songwriting Trust explained how the amalgamation came about, “Essentially APRA recognized that there was a clear demand on resources for both show’s, whereby we used the same band and sound team for both and last year we had finalists in both shows, Ant Healy from APRA recommended to the Country Music Club the combining of manpower and running the MLT Songwriting Awards, the APRA Song of the Year and the RIANZ Country Music Album of the Year under one umbrella event - the New Zealand Country Music Awards.
From this Gold Guitars put a proposal to the NZ Songwriting Trust regarding a collaboration of the two which we are very excited about, we’re looking forward to working together to retain and embellish this event for Gore and the wider national country music fraternity.”
An important component of these awards is the Songwriting Seminar for artists who want to gain some educational instruction in the craft of songwriting from the best in the industry. The Songwriters Trust is holding this Seminar on Thursday 2ndJune at The Heartland Croydon Hotel from 9am, with a dedicated hands-on approach to the seminar, there will be time allocated for workshop and songwriting development. With acclaimed guest speakers such as Songwriter Lindon Puffin, Mike Moroney and representatives from APRA, the seminar promises to provide participants with a wealth of knowledge from some of New Zealand’s experts within the music industry.
Tickets are on sale now the New Zealand Country Music Awards and are available from Cairns Music Works. Tickets are limited and sell out quickly so to avoid disappointment it is recommended to get in early.
There are currently no comments for this article. Please log in to add new comments.