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DPhil Music student Yvonne Ile wins the 2023 Kendrew Songwriting Competition at St John's College

Thursday 13 July 2023
Yvonne Ile

St John's College have announced that Yvonne Ile (Jesus College 2022) has won the 2023 Kendrew Songwriting Competition with her song "Don't Hide".  

Open to all current students at the University of Oxford, this year's competition drew 28 submissions from students across a number of colleges and degree programmes. The quality of the songs was unvaryingly high, with a wide range of styles represented. Submissions were reviewed by Tessa Cavanna (singer/producer and Assistant Producer, Oxford Contemporary Music); Sarah Hill (Associate Professor of Popular Music at the Faculty of Music and Tutor at St Peter's College); Daniel Hulme (producer/composer and Electronic Music Studio Manager, Faculty of Music); and Jason Stanyek (Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at the Faculty of Music and Fellow and Tutor at St John's College).

This year's winning song is "Don't Hide" by Yvonne Ile (Jesus College 2022). Second prize went to "Improbable Things," by Ashleigh Davies (a fourth year engineering student at St John's). The panel also gave an honourable mention to Leo Geyer (St Catherine's College 2019) for "Blink."

To listen to the winning submissions and hear about the inspiration behind the works, visit the St John's College website.

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