Image: Facebook / Gretta Ray

Gretta Ray Wins $50K Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition For 2016

18-year-old Gretta Ray has taken home $50,000 for winning this year’s Vanda & Young songwriting competition with her tune Drive.

The talented teen, who seems to be on a dream run after taking out triple J’s Unearthed High competition earlier this year, says she was smack-bang in the middle of her HSC exams when she got given the good news.

“I missed the first call because I was in the middle of doing a practice exam,” she tells tripel j. “I turned my phone on when I was finished and had a text saying ‘hey, could you call back – it’s about the Vanda and Young songwriting competition’ and I was like ‘no way!’.

“[They] called me again and told me and I was just in shock for the rest of the day, the week – I’m still in shock right now. It’s unbelievable!.”

Thanks to APRA AMCOS and the good people at Alberts, Gretta has been awarded $50,000 — the largest first prize for any songwriting competition in the world — at a special presentation in Sydney today.

“For any artist this would be an amazing thing in their career. This is not an industry that brings a lot of money to many people,” Ray says. “You really have to struggle or get other jobs to support yourself which I will probably have to do too. But this is an incredible privilege.

“[I’m] about to finish high school and now I have this advantage in supporting my journey. I wanted to take a gap year and just throw myself into the music world. This makes that more possible. This is the job I really want to do and this will help make that dream more real.”

The silver medal in the annual songwriting comp has gone to another familiar face: Emma Louise, for her song Underflow, which snagged her a $10,000 prize.

While tied for third were Sydney’s Tigertown for their tune Lonely Cities and American songwriter Tia P for 4 Seats From Beyoncé (she just became the competition’s first international prizewinner), with both receiving $5,000 a piece.

Listen to all of 2016’s winning tunes below.

Listen: Gretta Ray – ‘Drive’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syXD19Dkhy8

Watch: Emma Louise – ‘Underflow’

Watch: Tigertown – ‘Lonely Cities’

Watch: Tia P – ‘4 Seats From Beyoncé’

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