Yorkshire teen wins major songwriting prize
A teenage girl from Wakefield has won a major songwriting prize.
Lily Finlay, 18, won the inaugural BIC® Write and Shine prize after beating hundreds of songwriting hopefuls with a song she wrote aged just 13, two weeks after getting her first guitar and teaching herself to play.
As well as working with a platinum-selling music producer to record her song, Lily also performed on the main stage at The Big Feastival last weekend.
BIC® teamed up with singer/songwriter and YouTube star Bethan Leadley, platinum-selling producer Andy Whitmore at London’s Greystoke Recording Studios and The Big Feastival to provide the prize.
The Big Feastival happens every year at Alex James’ farm in The Cotswolds. Lily performed alongside Olly Murs, De La Soul and Madness.
Lily, who has just had her A Level results in Music, Maths and English Literature, which she studied at New College, Pontefract, said it was her dream to make it in the music industry.
She said: “None of my family are musical but I always loved writing songs. I used to follow my mum around when she was doing the gardening, singing her nursery rhymes I’d made up.
“When I was 12 I asked if I could have guitar lessons and was told we couldn’t afford it. Then at Christmas I got a guitar and started teaching myself, I’ve never had lessons.”
“This is an unbelievable opportunity, music is my life and I cannot believe I won.”
The BIC® Write and Shine competition asked budding songwriters aged 13 to 24 to hand write their own original song.
A panel of judges, led by Danny Cope, Curriculum Leader: Popular Music and Songwriting at Leeds College of Music and including BIC representatives and Bethan Leadley, shortlisted the top four songs from hundreds of entries, based on the lyrics alone rather than musical ability.
Then a public vote on The My BIC Pen Facebook page determined the ultimate winner.
