Stiles + Drewe and Mercury Musical Developments announce winner for 2023 Best New Song Prize

Stiles + Drewe and Mercury Musical Developments have announced the winner of the Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize 2023.

Twelve finalist songs from new British musicals were presented last night at The Other Palace, in a concert hosted by The Stage Debut Award-Winner Rob Madge. The twelve songs were selected from 175 submissions by a large panel of industry judges.

The judging panel, comprising of George Stiles, Anthony Drewe, Derek Bond, Candida Caldicot and Deborah Tracey awarded the Best New Song Prize to Rachel Walker Mason (music and lyrics) & Nina Sundstrom (music and lyrics) who receive £1000 towards developing their work and a year-long complimentary Dorico Pro licence. The song, ‘Drown Without Water’ from The Circle, was performed by Renée Lamb. Eloise Hodder (bookwriter of The Circle) also joined the team on the night. An additional prize of £250 for Voice, Vision & Potential was awarded to Geraint Owen for his song ‘BIO’ from Queerway.

The concert also celebrated recent new British musical successes, featuring songs from hit shows Operation Mincemeat, The Great British Bake Off Musical, CAKE – The Marie Antoinette Playlist, My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?) and RIDE: A New Musical.

Stiles and Drewe said: “It was an honour to showcase such a wide array of new songwriting talent using the finest of the West End’s singers and musicians, covering such a wide range of contemporary subjects, and seeing a packed house at The Other Palace respond to them in such a supportive and emotional way. New musical theatre writing is in a gloriously healthy and relevant place in the UK. Any of the final 12 songs would have been a worthy winner.”