Mercury Theatre and Perfect Pitch announce songwriting winners

The Mercury Theatre Colchester and Perfect Pitch have announced the winners of their songwriting contest launched by Tim Minchin as part of their Mercury Online season.

Millie Millington, Willy Mukendi and Joseph Riley

Asked to submit an "I Want" song, the Songwriting Competition aimed to nurture the musical talents of songwriters of all ages and experience in writing for musical theatre.

Hundreds of entries were submitted, undergoing the judging process by the Mercury Theatre team, and Wendy and Andy Barnes from Perfect Pitch.

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The winning entry, receiving £500 prize money, was sent in by Willy Mukendi, Joseph Riley & Millie Millington whose song “Alone” was inspired by the Covid-19 Lockdown. This new trio decided to work together to create their song from three separate parts of the UK. Willy runs the UK’s largest musical theatre fan Facebook page, MTAS and is currently in the process of writing her third musical. Joseph, whose vocals can be heard on the song is a first-year student at Trinity Laban and Millie has been a music educator, practitioner and performer for nearly 30 years.

Jade North, aged 16 and based in Colchester receives the Voice of the Future award for her entry “Say My Name” inspired by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, she receives a £250 prize. The joint runners up include Carlo Bosticco & Matt Randall with “My Own Other Half”, Earl Marrows & Sam Norman with “The Greats” and Isla van Tricht & Guy Woolf with “My Turn”, each pair win £150 for their entries.

Wendy & Andy Barnes of Perfect Pitch said: “It was a tough decision for us all to agree on a single winner as there were so many great entries submitted, but we all feel “Alone” stood out. Thank you to everyone who took the time to create something new, we could see the care and thought that had gone into the songs. We look forward to the moment when we can all get back in our theatres and share more new songs and musicals with each other.”

READ MORE ABOUT THE COMPETITION

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