'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse'
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Though at 4am on Christmas morning exciting news was announced, creating a stirring surprise for local songwriter Katie Hardyman.
The Pampoolah based songwriter had won the acoustic/folk category of the 2014 international UK Songwriting Contest.
Her song, 'It's not goodbye' was written about her daughter Lucy, leaving home to attend school in Sydney.
"It's an incredibly hard thing to say goodbye to your children so I thought I'd write a song about it," said Katie.
Katie had entered a stripped back version of her song, featuring the peaceful and moving guitar tones of Matt Zarb, amongst the compelling voice and infectious folky grooves of Laura Zarb.
Along with the production skills of Pete Stevenson, the collaboration formed an inspiring and now award winning folk song.
The judges commented that it was a very touching and personal song.
"To win this contest is just so humbling and I'm so honored to receive this award and gain a perfect score for it," Katie said. "I have entered this contest for the past four years and placed as a finalist, so to actually win this year with such a special song is brilliant."
Many entrants have been published, signed or produced by top industry figures who follow this event closely.
Music producer and well know reality television judge, Simon Cowell, has even signed one of the winners in the past, showing this is a real chance for new songwriters to break into the music business.
"The UK Songwriting Contest directors and judges include some of the world's top Grammy, Emmy and BRIT Award winning producers who have worked closely with such artists as Sting, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams, Oasis, Britney Spears and many others. There were more than 10,000 entries in the 2014 contest and we are pleased that Katie Hardyman has achieved such an impressive result in this year's event and wish her every success in the future," said a spokesperson from the UK Songwriting Contest.
The award's show full video can be watched at this link.
You can listen to 'It's not goodbye' on sound cloud here.
