MediaCorp’s song writing competition to celebtrate SG50 – 50 years of Singapore’s independence, ‘The Gift of Song’ announced its three winners last week.

The competition invited Singaporeans to write a song celebrating the Singaporean spirit and the company will also produce a music video of the winning entry, which will be released in the lead-up to next year’s National Day.

The songs by three finalists will be unveiled in January 2015 with the launch of a public voting campaign for their favourite song to celebrate SG50.

They will be played on MediaCorp radio stations and the winner will receive $10,000.

The judging panel for the competition is helmed by well-known local musicians Dick Lee, Jeremy Monteiro and Sydney Tan.

The final entries come from a singing/songwriting duo named Ciao Turtle, chef Lee Chin Sin and graphic designer Andrew Lee.

Ciao Turtle is made up of Dennis Ng, 32, and Jared Chan, 26, and their composition, ‘Being Here’, is a about how their forefathers came to the island city and how Singaporeans strive for a brighter future together.

On being shortlisted, Dennis exclaimed: “We really never expected to be one of the finalists as we knew the competition would be strong.”

Chef Chin Sin, whose song, ‘These are the days’, is a celebration of the nation’s past achievements and the last finalist Andrew Lee’s  song, ‘We Are Stars’, is inspired by his relationship with his country and its people.

Bernard Lim, Managing Director, TV, MediaCorp, said: “We had about a thousand entries from all walks of life in Singapore, including nine entries that were submitted by prison inmates.”