Partner Wins SOCAN Songwriting Prize

By FYI Staff

Rock duo Partner has won the 13th annual English SOCAN Songwriting Prize. A series of quirky videos and social media savvy helped Josée Caron and Lucy Niles clinch the top spot in the contest with "Play The Field," a song the Atlantic Canada natives co-wrote.

The Prize brings Partner a $10K cash prize, a Yamaha PSR-S970 Keyboard, and a $500 gift card from Long & McQuade. 

In a SOCAN press release, Caron and Niles state "We are so thrilled and honoured to be the recipients of the SOCAN Songwriting Prize. Songwriting is one of our all-time greatest joys, and to be recognized by fellow music lovers in this capacity is a dream come true."

The group's manager, Mar Sellars, tells FYI that "I do think Partner put in more effort than any other band with making the videos etc to encourage people to vote, so I'm happy our extra push paid off. Plus we can definitely use that $$, the keyboard and the L&M gift certificate!"

The SOCAN Songwriting Prize is one of few competitions in Canada that award excellence in songwriting. Ten songs created by emerging songwriters over the past year are nominated by a panel of 15 music industry experts. The general public then votes for their favourite to determine the winner. A mirroring competition for songs in French, the Prix de la chanson SOCAN, is conducted separately.

"Congratulations to Josée Caron and Lucy Niles on winning the 2018 SOCAN Songwriting Prize. In a competition that celebrates songwriting, there was no shortage of great songs this year, and winning was no easy feat,” said Michael McCarty, Chief Membership & Business Development Officer at SOCAN. 

See a list of the other nine finalists here