The 2013 Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women Partnership (DAVAWP) Song Writing Competition concluded on Thursday 5th December in an Anti-Violence Concert at Oasis Youth Centre where the five Competition finalists played live to an enthusiastic and very receptive audience.
The concert also featured local musician and song writer Robert Shields – front man of Finding Albert. Councillor Ronnie Nicholson, Council Leader of Dumfries and Galloway Council and Councillor Brian Collins, Council Depute Leader, opened the concert. The Song Writing Competition was part of the DAVAWP’s prevention activities linking with the international campaign “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence” which aims to raise awareness of all the various forms of violence that affect mainly women and children with devastating consequences.
The five finalists demonstrated a good understanding of the issues connected with domestic abuse and produced high quality songs; these were assessed by two panels. One of the panels focused on the lyrics content and message and another one looked at the musicianship demonstrated by the finalists. Then the songs were put to a public vote on the DAVAWP Website for residents of Dumfries and Galloway to score the songs. Hundreds of people listened to the competition finalists and participated in the public on-line vote to help decide who the winners would be. • First Place was given to: Clara Stevenson with “Swallow My Pride” • Second Place was given to: Alyth Ross with “Nowhere to Turn” • Third place was given to: Ellie Chilton and Linda-Louise Greenhill with “You’re Worth So Much More” • Ellie Chilton & Linda-Louise Greenhill also received the Best Lyrics Award. The competition winners will be interviewed by Melissa Gunn on Alive Radio on 12th Dec 6pm-7pm Prof.
Hazel Borland – Nurse Director and DAVAWP Chair said, “This is the third competition that we’ve run and it’s been fantastic as always. The young song writers demonstrated a great understanding of the issues relating to domestic abuse as well as other forms of violence against women and produced brilliant songs that were listened to by hundreds of people during the on-line voting. I would like to praise the Youth Work Staff and the Young People from Oasis Youth Centre for their support and hard work to help us make this concert a success.”
