One of our rising musical stars, Ollie Moore, has recently been announced as a finalist in this year’s Young Songwriter of the Year competition. He is one of 28 finalists across the UK and Ireland from more than 1,000 entries globally.
Each year, a handful of young songwriters are chosen by the Song Academy organisation as part of their Young Songwriter of the Year competition. The academy judges each entry on the style and meaning of their music and the panel includes professional performing artists, including folk star, Tom Odell.
This year, Ollie’s song ‘Sign’ from his inaugural EP was chosen. He said: “The song is about someone I lost touch with. She was formerly an exchange student at Framlingham College and we were really close but we sadly lost touch.” View Ollie performing the song ‘Sign’ below.
“I’m really happy just to get to this stage of the competition. My interest in song writing basically started a few years ago in music tech, when Mrs Bloore asked us all to write a Christmas song. Mrs Bloore was noticeably moved by my song and after that I just kind of knew that song writing was something I wanted to do more of.”
Ollie is one of 28 finalists at this stage of the competition and will find out by the end of April whether he reaches the top 10. Following this, a winner is announced later in the year, who will select the 15 best songs from the selection of 28 and these 15 artists will be invited to play at a showcase event in London in November 2021.
The competition has historically been strong for Framlingham College, with our former pupil, Oscar Welsh, reaching the final stages too in previous years.
Ollie is in Year 12 and considering his options following his time at Framlingham College and is planning to release some more music following the success of his debut album. He said: “My education at Framlingham has given me so much in the way of music and time to practice. I hope to release more music soon which is different to my other stuff as I have so many different styles I want to explore.
“When I got the email to say I was a finalist, I wrote a letter of thanks to the competition. I am really grateful for the opportunity and, in many ways, it’s given me more self-belief that I can be successful as a song writer and performer.”
