The young Melbourne composer and guitarist has taken out first prize for his work Between Tall Trees.

Melbourne-based composer and guitarist James Mountain has won both First Place and the Emerging Composer Under 25 Award in the Matt Withers Australian Music Composition Competition for his new work Between Tall Trees, taking home a combined purse of $1250. The composition competition, founded by guitarist Matt Withers in 2014, was open to all Australians to submit a work for solo guitar inspired by the painting Forest by Sue Needham.

^{Winner of the 2016 Matt Withers Australian Music Composition Competition James Mountain}

Second place was awarded to Sydney composer Kirsten Milenko for her work à l’aube and Blue Mountains composer Mitchell Newton came in third with a piece simply called Forest.

“I ran the competition for the first time in 2014 as a way to generate excitement around new Australian music and give an avenue of support to Australian composers,” said Withers. “It has been brilliant to see the interest from wider audiences and great to have the support of many generous sponsors offering to donate towards the ongoing success of the competition, this...