Happy Mag’s Needle In The Hay Competition Returns!

Artists from Australia and New Zealand are invited to enter Needle in the Hay, an annual competition run by Happy Mag, aimed at championing musicians at a critical time in their careers.

As always, the grand prize of Needle In The Hay is to have your single pressed to 7-inch vinyl by Melbourne’s dedicated pressing plant, Zenith Records. Over $30,000 in runner-up prizes, including high-quality recording gear, plug-in packages, and more will also be announced shortly.

Needle in the Hay 2022 will be judged by a selection of Australian and New Zealand industry figureheads stretching across the disciplines of music making, radio, media, and live events. To better represent the growing diversity of artists entering their music into Needle in the Hay, the judging panel has more than doubled in size compared to previous competitions.

And for the first time ever, four Needle in the Hay 2022 finalists will be selected to take part in a one-on-one mentorship program with a selection of Australia and New Zealand’s most esteemed songwriters and producers; Andy Bull, Lawrence Arabia, Lenka, and Tom Iansek.

handed over $65,000 in prizes directly to artists so far, and previous winners and finalists include Tones and I, Spacey Jane, The Buoys, Maple Glider, Haiku Hands, The Lazy Eyes, and many others.