Amy Shark has taken home the 2018 Vanda & Young songwriting prize.
Shark beat out the likes of Gang Of Youths, Alice Ivy and Gordi to claim the $50,000 cash prize with her song ‘Adore’.
“I wrote this song in my bedroom and it’s a testament to what just one piece of music can do and how important it is to keep doing what you love,” Shark said about the victory.
Gang Of Youths frontman Dave Le’aupepe nabbed both the second and third spot in the competition for ‘Let Me Down Easy’ and ‘The Heart Is A Muscle’ respectively. He took home a combined $15,000 for taking out both spots.
“There’s a sense of discomfort I feel when it comes to these things, because accepting praise is not exactly my forte,” Le’aupepe said.
“I never in my wildest imagined that in a competition like this, among so many actually talented writers, that I would manage to place.”
Both those songs are off Gang Of Youths’ 2017 record ‘Go Farther In Lightness’. Shark, on the other hand, is gearing up to release her debut album Love Monster in July and is riding high on the iTunes charts with her current single ‘I Said Hi’.
Shark also received an honourable mention in the competition for her track ‘Weekends’ alongside Alex Lahey, Ruel, Hatchie and more.
Meanwhile, Mallrat claimed the first-ever award for Best ‘Unpublished’ Work for her 2017 track ‘Better’.
