All students of Stacey Lee's Centre Stage, they have learned about the songwriting process while exploring a range of subject matters including the plight of farmers, how it feels to lose someone you love, the love they have for people and pets and more.

The entrants are Phoenix Wilson, Patrick Hayes, Misty McPherson, Charlotte Barry, Locky Moulds, Chloe Hicks, Amara Crutcher, Jessica Hickey and Sam Stephens.

The competition, in its 17th year, was open to school-aged children in grades four to 12 (as well as schools), with entries closing on August 29.

Eight-year-old Misty McPherson wrote a ballad titled I Love My Mum, which is about her mum and what she does for her.

Misty said the most fun thing about learning to write the song had been "deciding on the words and then getting to sing it lots of times," while the hardest was "finding the right words to put in my song, to show what I want to say".

Phoenix Wilson, also eight, called his song My Best Friend, and is about his dog Pepper.

Classical in style, he said the best part of writing a song has been that "you get to use your imagination to tell a story". His biggest challenge has been "making the lyrics sound GREAT!"

Nine-year-old Charlotte Barry wrote a ballad titled Join Your Hands.

"My song is about our farmers, the lack of rain, that I want to help and that together we can.

"The songwriting workshop I attended during the holidays really helped me improve my writing, piano and singing skills. The hardest part was working about the way I wanted the song to sound, the tone and the rhythm."

Sam Stephens, 10, has written a moving ballad called Nanna Jean, about his Nanna who passed away last year.

He said the hardest thing about writing his song was trying to put all his ideas together but he enjoyed "being able to express my feelings and get my thoughts on paper".

Patrick Hayes is hoping his song, called We Will Rise, will inspire people. The 10-year-old wrote his song about how it feels to represent your country with an awesome team.

He has found the process of putting all of your emotions and thoughts into it and putting it all together fun.

His biggest challenge was "trying to think of the right words to describe what we were feeling, and rhyming".

Chloe Hicks has also written a song about her mum, which she has called Just for You.

The 11-year-old has written it in the country music genre and said she has enjoyed "putting my feelings into words and using my country style".

She said the hardest thing about the process was "understanding where to put the lyrics and how to make a verse and chorus".

Sixteen-year-old Jessica Hickey's song, Cold, is mostly about heartbreak.

"The style of my song is very Adele, Christina Perri!

"Writing a song in general is fun it is so amazing because the lyrics are usually about something you care about and so when you see all that come into one it's pretty cool," she said.

"When writing a song the hardest thing for me is finding something to write about! But then it just pops in your head and bam you write a song!"

All the songwriters recorded their songs at Jake Davey Studios in Taree before submitting their entries.

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