Tune Into Nature Music Prize Launched for Budding Young Musicians

Posted By: Christopher Morganon: October 21, 2024In: Cultural Leaders Group TV, Current Affairs, Environment, News

Heronry at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Photo © Jonty Wilde, courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park

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By Joshua Robinson –

The Tune Into Nature Music Prize, a competition for young musicians and singer/songwriters whose work demonstrates a true connection with nature has been launched across the UK.

With a first prize of £500, the competition is being led by a collaboration of environment-loving organisations including the Nature Connectedness Research Group at the University of Derby, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Conservation Foundation, EarthPercent, and Sounds Right.

The national competition is open to UK residents aged 18-30 and aims to encourage submissions of original music that celebrate the human-nature relationship and showcase the inclusion of sounds of the natural world. Organisers hope the submissions will highlight the need for a new, stronger relationship with nature whilst providing vital support for young creative talent.

The winning entry will receive a professional remix by a renowned producer, with access to one of the world’s finest archives of nature field recordings from The Listening Planet. The winner will have the option of their track being released on NATURE’s profile across major streaming platforms as part of the Sounds Right initiative, benefiting from significant promotion and marketing, and featured on a special playlist to raise funds for nature restoration and protection.

The BBC’s music networks will bring listeners details of the prize and the opportunity to hear extracts of some of the shortlisted tracks. Judges for the prize include musicians and artists including Cosmo Sheldrake, Madame Gandhi, Andrew Fearn (Sleaford Mods), Jason Singh, Melissa Harrison and Sam Lee, and BBC presenters Sian Eleri and Elizabeth Alker.

As part of a research project in the lead-up to the competition launch, the University of Derby found that the connection between young people and nature dips during teenage years and takes more than a decade to recover. Research also shows that references to nature in contemporary music have decreased consistently since the 1950s.

Professor Miles Richardson, Professor of Human Factors and Nature Connectedness at the University of Derby, said: “We need to fix our failing relationship with the rest of nature and research shows that a closer relationship with nature comes through tuning in with our senses, responding with our emotions, appreciating beauty, celebrating meaning and activating our compassion for the natural world.”

“Unfortunately, nature means less and less in our lives and is disappearing as a reference in contemporary music. We need now, more than ever, a new and more connected relationship with nature and music to help remind people that nature is our story.”

The prize is open to UK residents, and those in the Channel Islands or Isle of Man, aged 18-30 and is supported by The Conservation Foundation and EarthPercent, the music industry’s climate foundation. The track should not be longer than five minutes and be previously unreleased.

The deadline for entries is 11:59 pm on Monday 6th January 2025.

Further details, full terms and conditions, and how to enter can be found at: https://www.tuneintonaturemusicprize.info/