At only 14 years of age, Ben Robinson has written a song and its lyrics, that has taken out the prestigious 2011 Harmony Day Songwriting Competition — an accolade he received last week.
Ben was presented with his award and prizes for his score ‘Little Things’ at Parliament House in Sydney on June 14 with his Port Macquarie High School musical mentor and teacher, Stewart Heddles, and family, by his side.
He also addressed the audience.
The Competition is a project of the Alfred Dreyfus Unit of B’nai B’rith and is a State competition for secondary students to compose songs with the theme of “Making Our World a Better Place”, which attracted thousands of entries.
As the overall winner of the competition and a category winner, Ben received a $1000 cheque and a Rode professional recording microphone, also valued at $1000.
Port Macquarie High also gained a $500 gift voucher. This was received by Ben’s music teacher Stewart Heddles.
Ben was rapt that his teacher was able to travel to Sydney for the award.
“I’d like to thank Mr Heddles for all the support he has given me over the years with my song writing,” Ben said.
He hopes the money will be spent on additional recording equipment for the school.
Ben’s song was performed on the day by Armando Hurley, an international performer.
“It was great to hear someone else perform the song that I wrote,” said Ben.
Over the following months Ben’s song will be professionally recorded and used as promotional use for Harmony Day.
Each category winner had the opportunity to perform their song.
