Powerful surf rockers King Stingray lead First Nations takeover of coveted songwriting awards

King Stingray will need a bigger trophy room after claiming the lucrative $50,000 first prize in a major song contest.

It is the most exciting and important band to burst on to the Australian music scene in recent years, and now King Stingray includes our most-prized songwriters.

The northeast Arnhem Land surf rockers claimed the lucrative $50,000 first prize in the annual Vanda and Young Songwriting Competition with their breakthrough single Milkumana, about leadership and passing on knowledge through stories and song.

It was written by the band’s co-founders, Roy Kellaway and Yirrŋa Yunupiŋu, who are descendants of the original members of Yothu Yindi and have quickly established themselves as a powerful First Nations voice for their generation.

Australian surf rock band King Stingray has won the world’s richest songwriting competition. Picture: Supplied

Their songs – in English and Yolŋu Matha – and dynamic performances have captivated the music industry and tens of thousands of fans, and won major awards over the past year including the ARIA Breakthrough Artist and the Australian Music Prize for their self-titled debut record.

“It means so much to us, we really do believe what we are singing about and our songs tell a story and a message. We feel really lucky that we can share stories,” Kellaway said.

“The song Milkumana is about leadership and the people we look up to and now, all of a sudden, we’ve become leaders in our community and that concept is just so amazing.

“We come from a small place and we’re singing about big things. Thanks so much for the love, we can’t believe it.”

King Stingray also won third prize for the song Camp Dog, an anthem about the community dogs of their hometown of Yirrkala.

Taking out second prize is Coodjinburra man Budjerah, from the far north coast of NSW, for his soaring pop song Reach for the Sky. It is the first time in the songwriting prize’s history that all of the top prizes have been won by First Nations writers.

Budjerah has also enjoyed a meteoric rise with his old soul voice and infectious pop songs, and was hand-picked by Ed Sheeran to open his mammoth Mathematics concerts in Australia this year.

Budjerah completed a First Nations sweep of the songwriting top prizes. Picture: Jeremy Piper

“Ready for the Sky is a song that I co-wrote with Ainslie Wills nearly three years ago over FaceTime in the middle of Covid, and it’s really amazing that now the song is out and we’re very, very grateful that we got second place,” Budjerah said.

Charley is this year’s Emerging Songwriter. Picture: Supplied

The Emerging Songwriter Prize was awarded to queer pop artist Charley who co-wrote her winning entry Worst Taste In Girls with the DNA team of Antonio Egizii and David Musumeci, who are the hitmakers behind chartslayers by Jessica Mauboy, Delta Goodrem and The Veronicas.

“This song means so much to me as it’s my first queer song, and having had so much support from my fans and music community and industry after coming out means the world,” Charley said.

“This song came from such a sad moment in my life so having some type of reward for it is very bittersweet.”

Originally published as Powerful surf rockers King Stingray lead First Nations takeover of coveted songwriting awards