Christmas FM is on the hunt for the next big Christmas tune to become the winner of The Ryanair Gift Card Christmas FM Song Contest 2022.
The station is aiming to raise €1m+ over the next three years for Barnardos, Barretstown, Make-A-Wish Ireland and The Community Foundation for Ireland under new fundraising initiative called ‘The Magic of Christmas’.
Supporting homegrown talent, those interested from across the island of Ireland are asked to submit their application ahead of the closing date on the 2nd December at 1:00pm at christmasfm.com/songcontest.
Last year, Phil Redmond from Dublin was crowned the winner with his song ‘Home for Christmas’. The idea for the song came to Phil while he was thinking about those who would be coming home for Christmas to visit family and friends for the first time in years due to Covid-19.
Phil Redmond, winner of the 2021 Christmas FM Song Contest says: “Winning the Christmas FM song contest was a huge achievement for me. I wrote ‘Home for Christmas’ especially for the competition and I was so happy to know people were listening to my song on the radio. I genuinely can’t explain how happy I was when I was announced as the winner, myself and my family were jumping around the kitchen cheering!”
“I look forward to hearing my song played again this Christmas. If anyone is thinking about entering the competition they should. It’s an amazing opportunity for singer songwriters to get great exposure. It now makes Christmas even more special for me.”
Walter Hegarty, co-founder of Christmas FM, says: “From Mariah to Slade, from John Lennon to Frank Sinatra, Christmas FM is the station that plays all the festive classics that make coming together during this special time all the more enjoyable. We are delighted to have our Christmas FM Song Contest returning this year with Ryanair on board. It’s an exciting opportunity for us to showcase the very best vocal and musical Irish talent and add a fresh tune to the list of festive favourites on Christmas FM.”
Broadcasting almost nationwide, Christmas FM plays round-the-clock Christmas tunes, spreading an abundance of festive cheer and seasonal goodwill every single day in the run up to Christmas. The station will begin broadcasting on FM this year on the 28th of November (subject to licence).
The radio station is run each year by a core management team, assisted by many volunteers who donate their time. Meanwhile, the costs of running Christmas FM are covered by various sponsors, ensuring listener donations go directly to the fundraising initiative. This year the station’s FM sponsors are Coca Cola, An Post and Cadbury.
Christmas FM will also be broadcasting from The Clayton Hotel in Liffey Valley who have kindly donated their studio space this year.