The singing competition Open Mic UK has found its latest winner of the competition joining a long line of prestigious Future Music competition winners, Heidi Browne from Market Drayton, Shropshire has been named as the winner of the national Open Mic UK singing competition at The NEC in Birmingham!

Singing competition Open Mic UK winner

Heidi was crowned singing champion in front of a capacity crowd at The NEC in Birmingham on Saturday night taking home a recording and development deal. Singing her own original song G.I.R.L.F.R.I.E.N.D won over the competition judges making her the winner of the 21 and over age category and the overall winner of the singing competition Open Mic UK 2013.

Check out Heidi Browne’s winning performance here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1RKcoPkSkY

The singing competition is brought to you by Future Music - the company behind the discovery of artists such as Jacob Banks, Warner Music’s Birdy, Columbia Record’s Lucy Spraggan, Union J’s Jaymi Hensley and Jahmene Douglas, both of which are now signed to Sony Music, and last year’s TeenStar competition winner Luke Friend!

Singing competition Open Mic UK winner judges

After impressing the competition’s judging panel at auditions from against more than 9,000 acts who signed up to Open Mic UK this year across the UK, they went on to perform in the Open Mic UK live showcases, battling through both Regional and Area final heats.

The judging panel for the Grand Final of the singing competition included record label representatives from Sony, Warner and Universal with names such as four time Ivor Novello Award winner Mark Hill, Birdy’s producer Gareth Henderson, Alex Baker from Kerrang Radio plus DJs who work for BBC introducing and Capital FM radio, along with Head of Future Music Chris Grayston. Also picked by the judging panel as winners were Natalie Shay from New Southgate in London who won the under 16’s age category, and Wildwood Kin from Exeter in Devon who took home the competition title for the 17-20 year old age category.

This year’s competition winner Heidi, says on the Open Mic UK competition experience; ‘'I entered the competition for a bit of exposure. I never thought I'd be successful as a quirky singer-songwriter! Winning the competition has restored my faith in what I've been doing for so long and I've been overwhelmed by the support of my fans, friends and family.'

Heidi has now won a comprehensive consultation package as competition winner with Future Music, an initial extensive winner's publicity package, a Lewitt microphone courtesy of John Hornby Skewes & Co. and an amazing £5,000 to spend on the development of her music.

For more information on competition winner Heidi follow her on http://www.heidibrowne.co.uk/. Heidi has proved herself to be best of the lot! For your chance to do the same, enter for 2014 now at www.openmicuk.co.uk.

Natalie Shay’s winning performance can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVDNoAspShc

Wildwood Kin’s winning performance is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DslE6cKYevU
Future Music is also about to start auditions for TeenStar Competition, after Luke Friend took the title in its first year.

It’s not too late to enter and audition in the coming weeks. To find out more and enter the TeenStar now go to www.teenstarcompetition.co.uk.