A Nantwich woman has won the Words & Music Festival’s first songwriting competition.
Abbie Frances scooped top prize and along with second and third place, she performed at The Crown Hotel in Nantwich on the final night of the week-long festival.
BBC Radio 6 breakfast host Chris Hawkins joined festival directors Nigel Stonier and Thea Gilmore in judging the competition which attracted more than 80 entrants from across the UK.
The top three were announced by Hawkins before the festival’s final evening performance of Mark Radcliffe’s Galleon Blast.
Overall winner was Abbie, who performed ‘Average Disguise’.
Kirsty MacLeod took second place with her song ‘Stars’ and Georgia Gage in third position with ‘Bunnybird’ where she was joined by her band Cafe Spice to perform.
Abbie now has the chance to record her song at Airtight Studios in Manchester, with support from internationally acclaimed producer Nigel Stonier.
Abbie said: “I want to say a massive thank you to all of the judges and all of the other entrants were amazing.
“It’s really touching that people like the music.”
Chris Hawkins, said: “The standard of entrants was incredibly high, I was absolutely amazed.
“The three of us listened to them with different ears – Nigel as a producer, Thea as a performer and from my point of view, listening to hear what would be suitable for radio play.
“Of course, we listened to all the songs anonymously and had entrants from across the UK and it turns out that the winning songwriter was from Nantwich!”
Festival director and judge Nigel Stonier added: “When we were judging the songs, we were not listening necessarily to great production, it was more about how it made us feel, how the combination of words and music affected us.
“We were thrilled at the response and it was a brilliant way to end what has been another fantastic week of poetry and music the festival.”
The songwriting competition accompanied the poetry competition this year in its fifth year.
Now in it’s tenth year, the festival welcomed the poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy to Nantwich Players’ Theatre and iconic poet Roger McGough this year.
Music included an acoustic set from THERAPY?, Thea Gilmore and Mark Radcliffe’s Galleon Blast.
The final gig featured Seth Lakeman at a packed Civic Hall on Thursday.
This was a rearranged show following a promotional opportunity which took place on the original date.
The popular singer-songwriter will be touring with Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant later this year.
Recent Comments