A glittering scene of beautifully laid tables complete with large silver candelabras greeted me as I stepped inside the new West’s Ashfield Leagues Club last Thursday night for the 27th Annual Australian Song-writing Awards.

   350 people comprising record company executives, theatrical agents, broadcasters, journalists, TV presenters, musicians and sound-men of all descriptions, pop stars of today and yesteryear, composers and their friends gathered for what was to be an exciting night indeed.

   Exciting for me because one of my songs: ”Where in The World is Love?” received third placing in the ballad category.

   Also exciting because it was a chance to meet up with like-minded people.

   Table 12 (my table) was definitely a lucky one.

   There were three winners on it: Ra Atum from Melbourne who received 2nd prize in the lyrics category with “Indigenous”, Emma Nainby from Brisbane who received 5th prize in the Spiritual category with “King For A Killer“ and yours truly from Jindabyne.

Winner's table 12: From left: Ra Atum 2nd place Lyrics, Paul Dion 3rd place Ballad, Emma Nairnby 5th place Spiritual Song with tireless ASA man Alan Gilmour.

   It was very much a national event with composers from every corner of the country.

   Danni Stefanetti from Perth took out the youth section (under 18) with a very catchy “Bless My Heart”.

   Watch out for her. She’ll be a star for sure.    

All the winners gave a live performance with piano, guitar or band backing and it was great to see the writers actually being able to deliver the goods on the spot.

   No Karaoke here.

   The night was opened with an address from Virginia Judge MP, (member for Ashfield), ASA patron and double music degree holder.

   Awards were presented by the various sponsors and also by music legends such as Little Patti, Lonnie Lee, Dinah Lee and others.

  There was also a tribute to Billy Thorpe and a sparkling performance from ‘flute babe’ Jane Rutter.

  
       Writer and media presenter Glenn A. Baker inducted Brian Cadd into the Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame with an informative and entertaining potted history of the musical life of Brian.

      Brian’s response was equally entertaining when he spoke about winning the Yamaha Song Contest some years ago and beating off a certain Swedish group comprising two married couples.

   In retrospect he wished they’d won instead!

   Brian then treated us to a captivating performance at the keyboard.

Brian Cadd captures the audience from the keyboard. (photo by Emma Nairnby QLD)

   ABC Weatherman and ‘Mr Cool’ Mike Baily spoke about things being pushed into pockets and how his job of running the auction was more about pulling things out of pockets!

   Looking every bit the classy rock star, ASA Chairman Denny Burgess was everywhere all night overseeing the evening’s program along with the tireless ASA man Alan Gilmour.

   It’s difficult to pick an absolute winner when the top ten songs have been selected from thousands of entries.

   Does it come down to personal taste when you get to this level?

   Who knows, but someone has to walk away with the major prize.

   Apparently the judging panels did much nail biting and had many, shall we say, ‘animated conversations,’ before finally settling on winners.

   The finalists knew this and accepted decisions in a spirit of good will.

   I’m looking forward to next years Australian Song Writing competition.

   If you think you’ve got a good song in you visit www.asai.org.au and have a go!  

   See past ART ZONES on www.pauldion.com