New York, NY - The Songwriters Hall Of Fame (SHOF) and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) have announced Canadian songwriter JoJo Worthington as the Grand Prize Winner in the inaugural Songwriters Hall of Fame Song Competition. The competition, "by songwriters, for songwriters," was conceived by the accomplished songwriters and leadership of the SHOF and music publishing executives at UMPG as a way to provide aspiring songwriters with an opportunity to share their music, develop their songwriting skills and take the first steps toward a successful career in the music industry. Accordingly, the competition's Grand Prize package includes the opportunity for the winner to enter into an exclusive music publishing contract with UMPG, as well as an Epiphone Masterbilt DR-500MCE guitar, two tickets to the 2015 Songwriters Hall of Fame Annual Induction and Awards Gala, and recognition from the stage at the ceremony.
In addition to the Grand Prize, four Second Place Winners have been chosen and will receive a one-hour creative and career mentoring session with a legendary songwriter who has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (Desmond Child, Donovan, Don Schlitz or Paul Williams), two spectator tickets to the 2015 Annual Induction and Awards Gala and an Epiphone guitar. The four Second Place Winners are: Jordan Richman Higgins, Travis Nilan, Angela Parrish and Tom Rhodes.
"This is the stuff of dreams for a young songwriter, and we are thrilled to be in partnership on this Song Competition with Universal Music Publishing Group who have generously provided this incredible opportunity," said SHOF President/CEO Linda Moran. "JoJo is a talented young songwriter, as are the four Second Place Winners; Jordan, Travis, Angela and Tom. We look forward to hearing much more from each of them in the years to come!
"We at Universal Music Publishing are extremely proud to have been part of the inaugural Songwriters Hall of Fame Song Competition. Songwriters Hall of Fame President & CEO, Linda Moran, and her team have done an amazing job setting the path to help discover and enable new and talented songwriters who are looking for their first big break," said Evan Lamberg, President, North America, Universal Music Publishing Group. "We are honored to have found the uniquely and extremely talented songwriter- artist JoJo Worthington as the Grand Prize winner and we really look forward to working with her and progressing her career."
"I am full of joy and honored to be the recipient of this award," said JoJo Worthington. "I am jubilantly anxious to see what will come of this juncture and the connections that are to be made."
All prize winners will be featured in an article in the 2015 Gala Dinner Journal, circulated to the music industry's creative and business elite, and have their music and bio profiled on a page of the songhall.org website, visited by thousands of industry professionals each month.
