For the third year in a row, Jack Harlow was named songwriter of the year at the SESAC Music Awards. The performing rights organization’s annual ceremony that recognizes member songwriters and publishers was held on Sept. 19 at The Highlight Room in Los Angeles.
Harlow walked away as the SESAC’s top honoree, additionally awarded song of the year for his “First Class.” Sony Music Publishing was named publisher of the year for the second year in a row, snatching awards for tracks including Harlow’s “First Class,” Nicki Minaj and Fivio Foreign’s “We Go Up”, Kendrick Lamar’s “Count Me Out” and Steve Lacy’s “Mercury.”
Attendees included top music executives, artists, songwriters and publishers including Bryan-Michael Cox, Dixson, Papiyerr, Dontae Winslow and Kenyon Dixon.
Additional writers who were recognized at the ceremony included Daniel Lopatin who grabbed four awards for his work with The Weeknd, Dez Wright for his work with Young Thug and Drake and finally Jimmy Napes for his writing with Sam Smith.
“We are honored to celebrate our songwriters and publishers across multiple genres,” said Sam Kling CCO of SESAC Performing Rights. “SESAC is proud of its affiliates who continue to write chart-topping hits and we enjoy every opportunity we get to celebrate their achievements.”
A number of performance awards were awarded to Jimmy Napes for his work on Smith and Kim Petras’ Grammy-award winning collaboration “Unholy” and Malibu Barbie for Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl.”
The SESAC is a music licensing organization that administers public performance and mechanical and rights through SESAC Performing Rights. A full list of winners is available at www.sesac.com.
