British Songwriting Awards

ting events. It was launched in 2002 in association with The BRIT Trust (of BRIT Awards fame) with the aim of discovering and encouraging new songwriting talent and promoting the craft of songwriting. The UKSC is now in its twenty third year and since its launch over 100,000 songs have taken part aover £1,000,000 worth of prizes awarded to entrants. The contest is a favourite with complete beginner and also with experienced songwriters from many countries and all compete on an equal basis. It has a reputation as one of the world's best songwriting events and it is well known in the music business as an important launching pad for new talent. The British Songwriting Awards Rising Star Award winners are chosen exclusively from UKSC entrants. UKSC contestants and British Songwriting Awards winners are watched closely by the music industry’s leading producers and publishers, and many finalists and semi-finalists are ‘spotted’ and go on to enjoy thriving music careers. The UKSC judging panels feature highly respected Grammy, Emmy, CMA and BRIT Award winning Gold and Platinum Album producers and artists including Sting's producer Kipper Eldridge, Elton John's producer Stuart Epps and Britney Spears' Musical Director Simon Ellis among others. Many past entrants have been noticed and signed by publishers, producers and record companies - Natalie Chua for example (Open Category Winner and now a UKSC judge) received a Platinum Album Award for sales of 500,000 albums with the band Angelis after being signed by Simon Cowell. Another entrant Belle Humble (Pop Category Winner) has since written for many well known artists and has topped the charts globally with 16 million YouTube views. Many entrants receive extensive press, TV and radio coverage of their results and their songs, with royalty earning radio play for their entries. Semi Finalists, Finalists and Winners have been featured on TV nationally and internationally and a number of past winners and finalists have gone on to launch careers successfully writing for major recording artists. For this reason we always recommend that Semi Finalists and Finalists should contact their local media with news of their results in the contest as this often leads to very good media coverage and interest from people in the music industry. Prizes are designed to help songwriters in their careers and often include personal mentoring with some of the world's top producers (for example last year's winner was mentored by Sting's producer Kipper Eldridge and the previous year's winner had his song remixed by Elton John's producer Stuart Epps). Other prizes include professional production packages with world class musicians, international copyright registration packages, songwriting courses, promotion on the music industry's "Best of UKSC" albums, music software, books, GISC memberships and much more. Everyone who enters the contest receives valuable SongU.com and Broadjam.com memberships (worth US$75 - which is more than three times the entry fee!). And everyone who enters receives a unique personalised UKSC Certificate for each song entered with the position reached in the contest. Entrants also receive an individual judges score for every song so that they can see how each song was rated by experienced music business professionals. See full details on The Prizes Page. This contest is often described in the media as "prestigious" because it is the only songwriting contest in the world that has had winning writers and finalists signed by top producers such as Simon Cowell, and the only one established in association with respected bodies such as The BRIT Trust and Music Aid International. Many entrant's have gone on to success through the contest and have signed publishing and recording deals, have been asked to write for major artists and major TV shows, have been interviewed in the media and had their winning songs featured to millions on national TV in Australia, the USA, the UK and other European countries. Many have also received royalty earning radio play of their entries both in the UK and internationally. None of this would have happened if these songwriters had not entered their songs in the contest. Anyone who enters this contest can have similar success and could be noticed by the many top industry professionals worldwide who follow this event very closely every year looking for new songwriting talent. Below are just a few of these success stories...

Some Successes...

Here is just a very small selection of the many past success stories...

Natalie Chua was signed by Simon Cowell after her UK Songwriting Contest win and received a Platinum Disc Award for sales of over 500,000 albums with the band Angelis. She is now a UKSC judge. Singer/Songwriter 2012 winner Emma Fitzsimons was personally mentored by Sting's producer and Grammy Award winning UKSC judge Marc "Kipper" Eldridge, she has been receiving offers from a number of labels, has received a professional recording and production package and a professional music video as part of her contest prize, has been tweeted about by celebrities like Perez Hilton and Calvin Harris, and her YouTube site is now approaching one million video views. The Olympic Theme Winner "When You Ride A Dream" was released worldwide during the 2012 Olympic Games by the top Juno award winning producer Mel Shaw after he heard it in this contest. Mel Shaw is a Gold and Platinum album producer and the Founding President of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He is one of the many important people in the industry who follow this contest closely each year. UKSC Pop Category winning track "I've Already Won", by USA songwriter Debra Gussin, was featured in the NBC Network Prime Time TV Drama "The Event" after its success in the contest. "Sempre Vicino" was the Open Category Winner in the very first UK Songwriting Contest held back in 2002. A stunning version of this beautiful song was released in Canada by the well known classical crossover group "The Canadian Tenors" after the contest. Acoustic Category winner "Bloody Good Xmas" was released as a Christmas single and quickly reached #2 in The Amazon Download Charts following its success in the contest. This song was a firm favourite of top international producer, musical director and UKSC judge Richard Niles who desrcibed it as "bloody brilliant!". Australian winner Alison Hams appeared live on Australian National Television on the popular show "Good Morning Australia" and performed her UK Songwriting Contest winning song "Second Fiddle" to millions of prime time TV viewers when the contest results were announced. Pop Winner Belle Humble went on to write for Paloma Faith and Alexandra Burke, Sony Cybershot, Orange Mobile, the Hilary Duff movie ‘Beauty and the Briefcase’ and hit US TV show ‘In the Deep End’ after her success in the contest. Her other releases since the contest include the Freestylers hit ‘Cracks’ which topped charts globally and she now has over 16 million YouTube views. Finalist songwriter Sally James from the UK was interviewed about her success in the contest on national prime time BBC TELEVISION and had her finalist song played to millions of television viewers. Pop Winner Ken Brown teamed up with Elton John's producer and UKSC contest judge Stuart Epps who produced a stunning remix of his winning song "What Love Is". Stuart Epps was so impressed with this song when he heard it in his official capacity as a judge in the contest that he immediately contacted the writer after the results were published to collaborate on a new version. Rock Category winning song "Danger Deep Water" by Jason Flinter was selected to open and launch LABEL EXPO, the International Awards Show in Brussels. The writer was also asked to write more music for the Capetown, Mexico and Chicago shows. "All thanks to the UKSC" says Jason. There are many more UK, USA, European and other international TV appearances, national and international radio plays and play-listings, publishing deal offers, press coverage, web coverage, recordings, signings etc etc. If any past entrants have stories to tell please contact us and let us know. The Judges
The UKSC judges are top Grammy, Emmy, CMA and BRIT Award winning Gold and Platinum Album producers and artists. They include Sting's producer and musical director Kipper Eldridge, top UK producer Stuart Epps (well known for his work with Elton John, Robbie Williams, Led Zeppelin, Bill Wyman, Paul Weller, George Harrison, Oasis), BRIT Award winning producer, songwriter and top musical director Simon Ellis (S Club 7, Britney Spears), CMA Award winning international country star and songwriter Lucie Diamond; producer, musical director and arranger Richard Niles (Paul McCartney, Kylie Minogue, Boy Zone, Mariah Carey, Take That, Cliff Richard) and the UKSC's own past winner Natalie Chua (signed by Simon Cowell after the contest and a Platinum Album recipient). Judging panels also include industry executives, publishers, managers, music organisations, experienced songwriters, past UKSC winners, UKSC directors, broadcasters, music journalists, authors and others from the UK and international music industry. Read more about the judges here


Aims and Mission
The UK Songwriting Contest was originally launched with The BRIT Trust to encourage and promote the art of songwriting and to discover and showcase new talent and new songs. For this reason the entry fee has not been increased since the launch in 2002 and contest has one of the lowest entry fees of all the world's major songwriting event. Every songwriter who enters, whether they are experienced or a complete beginner, has the same chance to be discovered and noticed and to have their work judged by top names in the music industry.