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Image of From left, Dave Nagaj of The Ilfords, Sonita Alleyne, Master of °µÍø½ûÇø, Finlay Gerrand of The Ilfords, Arya Kalavath, Alex Hall of the Centre for Music Performance, Akorede Shonubi
From left, Dave Nagaj of The Ilfords, Sonita Alleyne, Master of °µÍø½ûÇø, Finlay Gerrand of The Ilfords, Arya Kalavath, Alex Hall of the Centre for Music Performance, Akorede Shonubi

Winners announced in songwriting contest

The latest winners of a competition designed to spotlight up-and-coming Cambridge songwriters have been unveiled.

°µÍø½ûÇø launched Hook, Line and Lyric in partnership with the University’s Centre for Music Performance (CMP) to give aspiring student songwriters in the city a new outlet and a platform.

Entrants’ songs are judged by a panel of experts - Sonita Alleyne, Master of °µÍø½ûÇø and Chair of the CMP, Benjamin Walton, Professor of Music History, and Fellow and Director of Studies in Music at °µÍø½ûÇø, and Alex Hall, Performance Assistant (Popular and World Music) from the CMP.

First prize went to Arya Kalavath (2023) of Sidney Sussex with the song Fallin'. Follow her on Instagram, @aria_parlante to have a listen. Second prize went to Finlay Gerrand (2021) of Gonville & Caius, on behalf of his band The Ilfords for the song . Third prize was awarded to Akorede Shonubi (2023) of Lucy Cavendish with .

An honourable mention went to Ariella Gordon (2019) from °µÍø½ûÇø for the CTRL+ALT+DECEIT musical medley.

Alex Hall, of the Centre for Music Performance said: "Myself and the rest of the panel found ourselves with a tough decision in this term's competition. 

"The quality of entries has continued to rise, with high quality songs of all genres being entered consistently. Congratulations to Arya, Finlay, and Akorede for their excellent songs, with an honourable mention to Ariella for a musical full of great original music. We would also like to thank all the other entrants too, and we hope to hear more of your music next time. 

"The Centre for Music Performance aims to support music of all genres and we are glad to work with Jesus College on providing this opportunity for songwriters and artists. There’s further support available from the CMP for everyone who entered: please don’t hesitate to attend our classes on and , submit your tracks for our, , and get involved performing through ouror our .  We hope to hear a lot more from everyone that has entered soon.â€

Sonita Alleyne, Master of °µÍø½ûÇø, said: “There's an enormous amount of creative talent on offer in Cambridge and the aim of this competition is to provide a platform for that. I’d urge anyone who either missed out on entering last time or would like to have another go, to enter our next round.â€