Teenage Crush Inspires Winning Song

The 30 2004 Play It Strange National Secondary Schools Songwriting Competition awards were presented at an event held at Baradene College on Saturday October 2nd, with 5 of the top 10 songs being performed by well-known artists including Michael Murphy, Jordan Luck, Jo Cotton and Jason Kerrison.

Finalists from all over the country were present for the inaugural event that one of the four judges, Brooke Fraser, said, "…will become an integral part of encouraging the development of our young songwriters."

Josh Turner from Whakatane High School took first place with his song 'To An Extent', which, according to the New Zealand herald was inspired by a bout of unrequited love inspired by a girl he met at the Parachute festival two years ago.

The 30 awards were chosen by the judges from an impressive 270 entries, prizes including recording studio time, musical instruments and commercial release on a CD.

Tui winner Brooke Fraser talked of "the talent fermenting away in our secondary schools." With Scribe thanking a school teacher for "helping him believe a musical career was not just a dream," in one of his many speeches at the Tui Awards, "we see these secondary school award winners as the Silver Scroll and Tui Award winners of the future", said competition General Manager, Debbie Little. "It's about the opportunity to write and play," says CEO, Mike Chunn, who describes the competition as the highlight of his career. "We call ourselves Play It Strange because in our dictionary 'strange' means 'anything but ordinary'. The songs that have made the top 30 in our songwriting competition are nothing less than extraordinary - every one of them."

www.playitstrange.co.nz