SIMON COWELL SIGNS UKSC WINNER NATALIE
Natalie Chua was overall Winner of The UK Songwriting Contest with her composition "Guardian Angels". When the results came out Natalie received a lot of media and music industry attention and was selected to be one of the six member of Simon Cowell’s platinum selling classical crossover band ANGELIS. The band sold half a million albums in just over 2 months and topped the UK Chart. Natalie was recently presented with a Platinum disc for the album on national TV. Natalie also holds the record as the contest's youngest winner and the only contestant of Filipino descent to have won this major British award. In recognition of her win in the UK Songwriting Contest she was invited to meet the Philippine President Gloria Arroyo during Her Excellency’s official London visit last year and the President personally presented Natalie with The Presidential Achievement Award. Natalie says of her UKSC result: "I'm so proud of The UK Songwriting Contest win and I've been spreading the news about it all the time - to our fans, friends and families and to those I met during our tour. And of course, I always mention UK Songwriting Contest to those in the industry every chance I have and whenever I 'm interviewed about my achievements. Doing well in the contest gave me confidence in my writing. I would recommend it to anyone".

DOORS ARE OPENING FOR LYRICIST RACHEL
A finalist position in 2007 could be the start of a new career for lyricist Rachel Marie Parkes from Somerset. Due to her success in the contest she was featured on BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Somerset Sound, where she was interviewed and her songs were played in a live performance on air (with music supplied by her husband Richard). Listeners have been contacting the radio shows since then asking for more information and asking where they can buy the songs. She says: "My song can now be heard across the world, as it's on the BBC site, and people from Canada and America have said they have heard it and really like it. I have also been featured on primetime HTV News where I sang my song and was interviewed about my musical career. I have been featured on two BBC websites, BBC Bristol and BBC Somerset, and I have been interviewed by 5 different magazines and newspapers, with interviews and photographs about me. I have also been approached by an agent, due to all my press coverage, and am getting interest from national radio stations and the general public."
Link: One of the BBC online features

IN BRIEF
Hundreds of contestants suddenly find themselves with press coverage, royalty earning radio play and recording and publishing offers after the results come out. Here are just a few very brief recent examples....

Derek Conlon, Jazz/Blues finalist, was interviewed and had his song played on the BBC WM Danny Kelly Radio Show and on Aston FM. He was also intervied by The Mail, The Mirror and The Irish Post newspapers. He says: "I will definitly be sending some more songs to your contest in 2008. It has been a great way to get started and gave me that push that was needed".... Australian Folk/Country category winner Alison Hams appeared on Australian National Television on "Good Morning Australia" performing her winning Folk Category song "Second Fiddle".... finalist Rudi Cazeaux (visit his website) was interviewed on BBC Radio Kent on the same show as singer Lulu...  semi finalist Matt Tyler (see website) had his entry aired on both BBC Radio WM and on BBC Radio Leicester... James Edge (finalist and semi finalist) was interviewed by his local press and also appeared on the Pat Marsh show on BBC Radio Kent where they played some of his tracks... runner up Paul Rogers (visit website) received local press coverage and a local radio feature on FM 3TRFM and he was also interviewed live on BBC Radio Wiltshire.... Jackie Shapiro (finalist from South Africa) was featured in a number of newspapers and interviewed on SA FM, the South Africa national radio station, and was also featured on the very popular Highveld Radio station...Finalist Bryan Matthews was interviewed live and had his finalist song - Be My Bernie Taupin played on BBC Leeds Graham Liver show...  Fareez Shuib (double finalist) appeared on BBC Radio Newcastle's "More Than Soul" show presented by Paul Wappat and also on BBC Radio Cleveland's Adrian Allen show - he says "I am beyond thrilled!"... Keith Fellows (finalist) has been featured in two photo feature articles in his local newspapers... Semi finalist Laurence Watkins (see website) was featured in two press articles, including a Lifestyle Magazine feature, and was invited to be interviewed and have his songs played on BBC Radio Leeds "all due to the UKSC result"... Mandy Durrant (finalist) has had press write ups, was interviewed on BBC Radio Norfolk, and has local gig bookings and a tour of Ireland as a direct result of her position in the contest. She says "Most importantly, the contest has given me a much needed boost to get out there and promote my songs, using the contest results as a tool to do this"...  Kate Salisbury (finalist and semi-finalist) had her achievements covered by newspapers in both Bristol and Bath, including a full-page colour photo feature, and also on the local BBC website (see it here)...  Jennie Farley (finalist and semi finalist visit her website) was interviewed on Gemini FM Radio, featured on the front cover of her local newspaper and has been approached by a major news agency. She says "I hope that this may help to encourage other songwriters to get themselves 'out there'. It is a big step up on a very slippery ladder!! Thanks for your support and encouragement".... Mark Blue (finalist) attracted the attention of Radio & TV presenter Dominick Diamond who covered Mark's achievement while presenting his radio show on Scotland's BEAT 106...   Richard Horlock (finalist) was featured on BBC Hereford & Worcester on the Dave Bradley show (interview and airplay), and was also featured in the Hereford Times and mentioned on Sunshine Radio 855/Classic Hits... Bob Bantock (semi finalist) has had local press coverage and has been offered a contract with Play It Forward Productions as a result of his positions in the contest... Lynn Van de Mortel (finalist) received local press coverage and had her song Promises played on BBC Radio Merseyside by DJ  Billy Butler... Kris Wilkins (finalist) was interviewed on air and had his song played by BBC Radio Berkshire.... Finalist Steven Dinham was interviewed by one of South Wales leading Radio Stations "The Wave"...

Read what songwriters are saying about the UKSC here

NEWS ARCHIVES
A small selection of the many past news stories...

THREE SONGWRITERS AND THE BBC
Three songwriters from the same town - Bristol - reached either the finals or semi finals of the UK Songwriting Contest in 2005, and within days all three found themselves in the media spotlight. Kate Salisbury, Emma Hutchinson and Chris Townsend were all featured in the local press and the BBC also covered the story with radio play on BBC Radio Bristol and also with this story (click here to see the photo feature) on the BBC Website.

 
TV APPEARANCE FOR FINALIST SALLY
As soon as she heard about her finalist position in the UK Songwriting Contest Sally James contacted the BBC1 South East Today news programme and within days Sally was visited at home and interviewed on prime time television by Juliet Parkin. As an added bonus Sally's contest entry was played to millions of television viewers and earned royalties for the writer. This is a good example of why we advise all UKSC finalists and semi finalists to tell the media about their success in this contest. The UK Songwriting Contest's very strong ties with the music industry and media always guarantees press, radio and TV interest for finalists, semi finalist runners up and, of course, winners. The photo shows Sally (left) being interviewed by the BBC's Juliet Parkin.  Sally's Website.
 

GLENN AITKEN FEATURED BY MPL  
Glenn Aitken was already signed to MPL when he entered the UKSC but soon after reaching the finals in 2004 with his song "Underground" he was made a special "featured songwriter" with Sir Paul McCartney's famous MPL Communications music publishing company. Underground was given a finalist position in the 2004 UKSC Rock/Indie Category. Glenn was also a finalist in the 2005 UK Songwriting Contest in the Pop Category with his song "Bundle Of Truth". Click here to visit Glenn's website for more details and to listen to some of his songs. Visit MPL here.

FRED WISDOM - DOUBLE FINALIST   
Two finalist positions in the Jazz/Blues category in the 2004 contest led to a flurry of activity for Fred Wisdom. "Ever since then, so much has happened" he says. "I've released my album, done a radio interview with Ben Turner of BBC WM who also reviewed my album on air, and Peter Marsh of the BBC music section also did a review after hearing about my success in the UKSC (see the BBC online article here). Black UK Online did a spread on me (read it here), the Musicians' Union did a review in their magazine. I have gained two distribution deals, local newspapers have mentioned my success in the UKSC and I have been interviewed on air by Jazzy Wee of New Style Radio and Johnny Lais of Life FM." You can check out Fred's website and listen to his music here.

RECORDING CONTRACT FOR RUNNER UP TAMAR
As a direct result of entering the UK Songwriting Contest Tamar Broadbent released her first album this year after signing an exclusive recording contract with Rococo Music Limited. Tamar was a runner up in the Pop Category and also had two Finalist positions - one in Pop and one in the Dance Category. The success of these three songs in The UK Songwriting Contest was the key factor in the decision by Rococo Music to offer Tamar the recording contract. You can visit Tamar's website here for more details about Tamar and her music and you can visit Rococo Music here for more details about the company.

AN OUTSTANDING YOUNG TALENT
The outstanding songwriting and singing talents of 11 year old 2004 winner Natalie Grace Chua (pictured left) impressed the UK Songwriting Contest judges. Natalie was winner of the Miscellaneous category with her moving song "Guardian Angels" and was runner up in the Pop Category with her song  "Grounded".  She also received the 2004 UKSC/Sibelius Overall Winner Award. Soon after the results were announced Natalie was stopped on the doorstep and interviewed about her win by the BBC while getting ready to leave for school. She has also been widely featured in the press - including the prestigious entertainment industry newspaper The Stage (read the article here).

RADIO, RECORD COMPANY INTEREST AND PRESS  
Songwriter Catrin Lewis has written to us saying: "Since reaching the finals I've had lots of radio play on stations such as Life FM, Smoke FM, Unknown FM, Station FM, Nitro 99.1 FM and had tracks played at music venues such as Pop, Soho Street W1, Bar Uno and Colour, NW1. I also recently had interest from Acid Jazz Records and had an article published about me (following my success in the contest) in the Enfield Gazette. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the hard work you do in promoting UK songwriters. It's great to show the world that there's still raw, untapped talent out there". Visit Catrin's website here

PUBLISHING DEAL AND RADIO PLAY FOR POP WINNER 
Very soon after the 2004 UK Songwriting Contest results were announced contest winner Darren Parry signed a publishing deal with The Panama Music Group of Companies for his song Reality. Darren's song was the worthy winner in the 2004 Pop Category and Panama Music were attracted to the song and offered the publishing deal purely on the strength of its successful position in the UK Songwriting Contest. The song and its writer have been receiving media attention - including BBC Radio play. Darren was also a semi finalist in the 2005 UK Songwriting Contest with his song "Everything But You". Darren's Website

"ANTI WAR" ROCK WINNER 
After winning the Rock/Alternative category back in 2003 with his anti war song "Not In My Name" Tom McCreery attracted huge interest both in his native Scotland and internationally. After the results were announced the song was quickly picked up by the media. It was play listed on national Austrian radio (Radio FRO) and received extensive radio airplay and news coverage on a number of major UK radio stations. There has been music magazine coverage in the USA (where an American label has requested to hear more of Tom's material) and UK press coverage has included the front page and main feature story in "Music News" Magazine and an article in Scotland's biggest national newspaper "The Daily Record". Success in the contest and the resulting media interest has led to Tom's band SUBROC performing the winning entry as a headline act at the Motherwell Concert Hall and Tom is currently considering a publishing offer and is in discussions with a well known producer...  He says: "I'm over the moon about this...This is an amazing honour - I was getting a bit down hearted about the whole music business as I seemed to be hitting my head off a brick wall. Thank you again for this great opportunity".  Website: www.subroc.co.uk

LIGHT OPERA SONGWRITING PARTNERSHIP  
Michael Ward from Hull writes: "I and my writing partners were thrilled at winning the Miscellaneous Category with our song "Rimpianto". After only one week (of the results announcement) your songwriting contest has already given us and our song credibility. We have had a 15 minute interview on BBC Radio, we are appearing in four newspapers, have taken on an American Marketing and Promotions Manager and have our song out to many of the worlds finest tenor singers for assessment, because we can now state that we are a category winner in the UK Songwriting Contest in 2003". Since writing the above Michael has received a personal email from Marcello Giordani, the international tenor singer from Sicily, saying that he would like to record the song, Jeffrey Cresswell (one of the Three British Tenors) has asked to include the song in future concerts and Dominic Natoli will be performing it on Radio 2's popular "Friday Night is Music Night" programme. 
Website: www.musicalcreations.co.uk

MILLIONS HEAR DUTCH ENTRY ON NATIONAL RADIO
The good news continues for UKSC finalist John Geel from Holland. Due to the position of two of his songs in the finals of the UK Songwriting Contest John had coverage in the national and local press and was been interviewed on national radio in Holland with one of the country's most important and famous DJ's - Hans Schiffers from AVRO Radio. John's song Ten Thousand Miles Away was broadcast nationally for the first time. Millions of listeners heard this UKSC entry and favourable reactions came in from listeners to the radio station's website. John writes: "Well, after the contest results we just did a press release (after having reached two finalist positions) and things went really fast after that.  Also our album is now in the the largest CD shop-chain of Holland. So far so good I would say!! Thanks. Regards, John Geel". Website: www.precioustime.nl

BBC RADIO PREMIERE
As a direct result of being placed as finalists in the Jazz/Blues category of the 2003 competition, Kevin Wright & Tony Watson were invited to talk about their success on BBC Radio. Following an interview the song "Victoria Lynn" was given it's first public airing. Kevin writes that "The publicity has been a great start to our career in songwriting and we are now working on further songs requested by a major UK publishing house. Many thanks to all at UKSC for giving us this opportunity!"

LOCAL PRESS COVERAGE
The local press is usually keen to cover the story of a finalist or winning position in the UKSC and here are just two examples of the many local news stories that have been published. Neil Kerkhove and Steve Jeffery, 2003 Pop category finalists, write: "We are pleased to announce that "Popadum" has been featured prominently in our local press (read the online version here). We have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this year's competition and look forward to entering next year". And Simon Rushby and Matt Brimilcombe (pictured right) from Surrey were taken completely by surprise when they won the 2002 Jazz/Blues category with “Cheatin’ Lover” - a memorable 12 bar based blues song which was published in the UK as a direct result of the contest (read the online version here). 

RECORDING AND PUBLISHING FOR ANDY AND TONI
2002 Overall Contest Winners Andy Littlewood and Toni Leo from South Yorkshire have had their winning song, “Think Of Me”, published in the UK. They have also signed a publishing contract for a second song that reached the finals in the Pop category. They are currently working on an album and were invited to record at The BRIT Studio.

RECORDING IN SWEDEN FOR STUDENTS
As a direct result of winning the R&B/Hip-Hop category songwriters Hilde Wahl from Norway and Sebastian von Bischopink from Germany were immediately offered a publishing deal in the UK for their entry “Lady Stand Up”. After the contest results were announced this powerful song received a great deal of interest from various sources but in the end, with so much choice, the two writers decided to decline a UK publishing offer and negotiated a recording deal with an R&B band in Sweden.

TV APPEARANCE - DOORS OPEN FOR JAZZ FINALIST
Cristina from Cyprus writes: “I was a finalist in the Jazz Category of the 2002 Contest (‘I Wanna Hold You Tonite’) and since then things have started to happen for me. First, one of the most popular newspapers in Greece interviewed me and the article was widely read. Proof of that is that since that article was published, I have been invited to perform and talk about my work on TV, a famous manager wants to help me out and some publishers have shown interest for my songs. I really think that this contest opened up doors so easily for me, so I strongly recommend it to everyone struggling to get heard out there. Also, I wanted to reply to all those songwriters who complained that only studio-produced songs reached the finals. Well, I made my song entirely on my old laptop, and the quality was not at all that good, but look where it got me anyway! Keep up the good work everybody! Best Wishes, Christina Georgiou”.

USA SUCCESS FOR ELECTRA
Because of her finalist position in the UKSC Electra Cliffton Smith, from Scotland, was invited to perform her contest entry "Crawl" at the New York Festival at Madison Square Garden, where she went on to win an Outstanding Achievement Award. This appearance led to further gigs around New York and invitations to perform at the Las Vegas Festival in July and the Los Angeles Festival in September 2003. The photo shows Electra performing her UKSC entry at Madison Square Garden - yet another example of how a finalist position in the UK Songwriting Contest opens doors at an international level.

READ MORE HERE  -  
FEEDBACK FROM OTHER SONGWRITERS

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