The Shure Songwriting Award 2013 has begun, recognizing talented and hard working songwriters worldwide.

The grand prize winner for last year's competition was Mairead Furlong. It was judged by professionals and artists like Amy McDonald, K.T. Tunstall, Paloma Faith and Everything Everything. This year, the doors open up again for hopeful singer-songwriters in an effort to find great new songs and talents.

Mairead Furlong had this to say about winning the award:

"It was such a privilege to be awarded the Shure Songwriting Award last year. To be given the chance to develop my talent and skills on the songwriting degree course, as well as benefiting from the many opportunities that arise at the Institute to write, collaborate and perform has been such a fantastic opportunity. I am learning so much and having the best year of my life. I would highly recommend this course to anybody who aspires to be a songwriter or an artist performing their own material. I would like to thank everyone who voted for me and those who selected me as the winner!"

If you are a above 16 years old and you are a passionate singer songwriter, here is your chance to get your work recognized and to develop a career in the music industry. To join, all you have to do is upload your original song before the 29th of April 2013.

Geographical limitations do not apply to this contest as long as the song submitted is written in English. Just upload a video of yourself performing your original song using your instrument of choice, with a maximum of four minutes in length. The video has to show that you are performing live without any editing or post-production. Note that you have to accompany yourself, they will not allow submissions with bands or electronic backing tracks.

Once submitted, your song will go head to head with other works from around the world, and you will be given four weeks to gain as many public votes as possible. After the public voting period, the top three scoring entries will join the finals, along with 8 other entries selected by a panel of expert judges. Finally, the grand prize winner will be selected by a top secret celebrity judge, which would be announced at a later date.

The winner will get a unique opportunity to attend a one-year Cert HE in Songwriting course at the Institute worth over £5,000 - for free! At the Institute, the winner will be able to develop his or her talent, take part in regular live showcase events, and have direct access to leading industry professionals. Shure will be giving the winner £500 worth of performance and studio microphones, while the runner up will get a Shure SM58 microphone and a pair of Shure SRH440 studio headphones.

For more information, and to submit your entry, you can head over to Shure Songwriting Awards.

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