Alice Ivy, Amy Shark, Gang of Youths, Georgi Kay and Gordi all received multiple nods in the Shortlist for Vanda and Young, the world's biggest first-place cash prize for a songwriting competition.

Sydney ARIA winners Gang of Youths hold the biggest share of the Shortlist pie with four tracks included. They are: 'Do Not Let Your Spirit Wane', 'Let Me Down Easy', 'The Heart Is A Muscle' and 'What Can I Do If The Fire Goes Out?'

Watch Gang of Youths' clip for 'The Heart Is A Muscle' below:

The 40 songwriters are now vying for the first-place cash prize of AU$50,000, courtesy of APRA AMCOS, Alberts and BMG, as well as an additional AU$5,000 Show Group travel package.

Two runners-up cash prizes are also on offer with second place receiving AU$10,000 thanks to AMPAL (Australasian Music Publishers Association) and third place taking home AU$5,000 courtesy of TIO's parent company Seventh Street Media.

Additionally, the competition will see a new prize slate this year of A$5,000 for the best ‘Unpublished’ work.

As noted by APRA AMCOS in the announcement this morning, 25 of the finalists are making their first time appearance - including Mallrat, G Flip, Angie McMahon, Dean Lewis and Bri Clark - and 22 of them are female or female-fronted.

Coming from all over the world, including the US, Canada, Hungary and Japan, the competition received entries from 3,296 songwriters, who entered 4,056 songs.

Their entry fees collectively contributed nearly AU$203,000 to NordoffRobbins Music Therapy Australia (NRMTA).

Here is the 2018 Vanda and Young Songwriting Competition shortlist in alphabetical order:

PERFORMER / SONG Abbey Gardner - Weight Of Feeling Adam Eckersley & Brooke McClymont - Train Wreck Ainslie Wills - Running Second Alex Lahey - I Love You Like A Brother Alfie Arcuri - Same Alice Ivy - Get Me A Drink Alice Ivy - Chasing Stars Amy Shark - Weekends Amy Shark - Adore Angie McMahon - Slow Mover Asha Jefferies - Chaos Bri Clark - Giving Up Cookin' On 3 Burners - Real Life Baby CXLOE - Monster Dean Lewis - Be Alright Florian Star - Crossed Lover G Flip - About You Gang of Youths  - Do Not Let Your Spirit Wane Gang of Youths - Let Me Down Easy Gang of Youths - The Heart Is A Muscle Gang of Youths - What Can I Do If The Fire Goes Out? Georgi Kay - Guilty Pleasures Georgi Kay - Special Gordi - Heaven I Know Gordi - On My Side Hatchie - Sure Holly Arrowsmith - Love Together Holy Holy - True Lovers Dennis Dowlut and Maxwell Bidstrup - Paper Planes Jack Carty - Hospital Hill King IV - Bump Mallrat - Better Maya Jupiter - Inshallah Middle Kids - Mistake Oh Pep! - Parallel Ruby Fields - I Want Ruel - Don't Tell Me Tia Gostelow - That's What You Get Tim Hansen - Don't Be A Dick Timothy Bowen - Anchor

The winning songs will be judged by a range music industry professionals including Daniel Johns, KLP, Montaigne, and representatives from Billboard, Universal Music, triple j Unearthed and more.

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