Five female acts have made the shortlist for the 2017 APRA Silver Scroll Award, recognising excellence in songwriting.

Close Your Eyes by Bic Runga (written by Bic Runga and Kody Nielson).
Green Light by Lorde (written by Ella Yelich O’Connor, Jack Antonoff, and Joel Little). Published by Native Tongue Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia P/L, EMI Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd.
Horizon by Aldous Harding. Published by Native Tongue Music Publishing.
Life of the Party by Chelsea Jade (written by Chelsea Jade Metcalf and Leroy Clampitt).
Richard by Nadia Reid. Published by Kobalt Music Publishing.

Bic Runga is once again a finalist 20 years later, this time for her beautiful, energetic love song Close Your Eyes, written with partner Kody Nielson (Silicon, UMO, The Mint Chicks). A song about going your own way, finding joy in the little things, and love enduring through time.

Ella Yelich O’Connor and Joel Little are nominated once again for their latest single Green Light. A cutting indictment of a past lover, which perfectly captures the chaos of post-break-up feelings, and the push and pull between the old and the new.

Aldous Harding is a welcome first-time finalist for her song Horizon. A spare, vulnerable track which finds impressive power in its simplicity, Horizon finds a way to spin gut-punching love into a song that feels brand new.

Also a first-time finalist, Chelsea Jade is nominated for her hypnotic, subversive, delicate pop piece Life of the Party - a song encapsulating the contradicting feelings of awkwardness and confidence.

A fellow newcomer is Nadia Reid, with her fierce, haunting song Richard, a stand-out folk-rock gem with its wonderfully direct delivery, charting heartbreak and dissolution, through striking imagery.