Wade Gregory has been announced as the winner of the Matt Withers Australian Music Composition Competition for his work Water Music. Gregory will take home a cash prize of $2000 for his work inspired by Sue Needham’s Stormy Seashore trio of watercolours, which were the inspiration works for this year’s competition.

Rick Alexander’s Storming came in second, winning the composer $750 cash in addition to the tour and recording, while the $500 Emerging Composer/Under 25 Prize went to Nava Ryan for Solitude. All three composers will see their work toured by guitarist Matt Withers and the Acacia Quartet. The works will also be recorded and licenced for digital release by ABC Classics.

Matt Withers Australian Music Composition Competition winner Wade Gregory. Photo: supplied

“I’m absolutely thrilled to have been considered for the short-list; to have won is a dream come true,” Gregory told Limelight. “Often as a composer you enter competitions such as these and never hear anything. I’m delighted to have the chance to hear one of my works performed and interpreted by incredible musicians.”

“I grew up not far from the ocean on Bribie Island – in my...