The 2025 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition has revealed its winners, celebrating outstanding songwriting talent from across the globe - with Jude York announced as the recipient of the Emerging Australasian Songwriter Award, proudly sponsored by AMPAL (Australasian Music Publishers’ Association Limited).
Awarded a $5,000 prize, the AMPAL-supported honour recognises emerging songwriting excellence from Australia and New Zealand. This year’s winning song, Almost Me, Almost You, was co-written by Jude York (AUS) who is proudly published by Wise Music and renowned songwriter Sarah Aarons (AUS/USA) who is proudly published by Sony Music Australia, and produced by Giorgio Tuinfort (NLD). The track is set for release in the coming weeks via Spinnin’ Records.
AMPAL CEO Damian Rinaldi, who served on the competition’s global judging panel, said:
“Supporting emerging songwriters is central to AMPAL’s mission, and we’re proud to champion talent of this calibre through the Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition.”
AMPAL’s support of the Emerging Australasian Songwriter Award reflects the organisation’s ongoing commitment to nurturing songwriting talent and recognising the vital role music publishers play in developing creative careers.
The win follows a standout year for Jude York, whose breathtaking performance of Can’t Get You Out Of My Head at the APRA Awards left a lasting impression on industry peers - making this recognition especially meaningful.
“To be recognised by the Vanda & Young Song Competition is truly the greatest honour as a songwriter,” said York.
“Music has always been ‘therapy’ to me, so raising funds for Noro Music Therapy to continue their incredible work fills me with so much hope. I couldn’t be more grateful to be joining the prestigious cohort of Vanda & Young songwriters.”
ABOUT THE VANDA & YOUNG Global Songwriting COMPETITiON
The 2025 competition attracted more than 4,000 entries from 52 countries, judged anonymously by a panel of 70+ international industry experts spanning songwriting, publishing, A&R, artist management, labels and music media.
In total, A$80,000 in prize money was awarded across 14 songs, representing songwriters from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Scotland, the Netherlands and the United States.
Entry fees directly support Noro Music Therapy, with the competition having raised over A$2.5 million since 2009 to fund life-changing music therapy services.