Northeast Arnhem Land legends and finest purveyors of Yolg?u surf rock, King Stingray, have taken out the 2022 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition for their track "Milkumana".
It's the largest first place cash prize for a songwriting competition in the world, which lands them a very crisp $50,000.
Co-written by Roy Kellaway and Yirr?a Gotjiringu Yunupingu, "Milkumana" (which was your Hottest 100 #56 track) is about who the band looks up to within their community. Sung in both English and Yolg?u Matha, explores the importance of being a good example for generations to come.
"We can't believe it, we are so over the moon to win the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition," Roy said.
"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.
"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."
But that's just the beginning for King Sting! The five-piece also took out third place for "Camp Dog", which scored them an additional $5k, solidifying the excellence of the band's storytelling.
This massive win follows their clean up at the Australian Music Prize, which saw them take out the top honours and $30,000 earlier this year.
Coodjinburra man Budjerah took home $10k and second place in this year's awards for his track "Ready for the Sky", co-written with Ainslie Willis.
"'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," the 21-year-old singer songwriter said. "And it's really amazing that now the song is out and we're very, very grateful that we got second place."
You can catch King Stingray on their upcoming national tour, which kicks off in Warrang/Sydney on June 24. Congrats mates!