Congratulations to our winner!
 

Thank you to everyone who entered the inaugural Beyond Parody Songwriting Competition.

Jude and Jonny have been greatly encouraged by the creativity, passion and biblical conviction reflected in the entries. Although there could only be one winning song, every participant helped make this first competition a success, and we are deeply grateful for the time, prayer and effort invested in each submission.
 

After careful consideration by our panel of judges, we're delighted to announce the results:
 

🥇 1st Place: Gerry Cohen – The Prayer Necessities
(A parody of The Bare Necessities)

🥈 2nd Place: Gerry Cohen – He's the Road
(A parody inspired by John Denver's Perhaps Love / Almost Heaven theme)

Congratulations, Gerry, on an outstanding achievement!

As the winning entry, The Prayer Necessities will now be professionally recorded, with recording planned (DV) for August 2026. We look forward to sharing the finished recording with you in due course.
 

Why Beyond Parody?
 

Our vision remains the same: to encourage Christians to write songs of salvation, teaching, prophecy, heartfelt testimony, worship and biblical truth using familiar melodies that can reach people beyond the walls of the church.
 

The Beyond Parody initiative grew out of Jude Meritus' remarkable journey. Quite unexpectedly, at the age of 75, Jude began receiving inspiration for parody songs "out of the blue". What started as an unexpected creative gift developed into a growing conviction that well-crafted parodies could become an effective and engaging tool for Christian outreach.
 

Since 2017, Jude has faithfully pursued this vision, often feeling that he was walking a lonely road. Through many testing times, he has continued to look to the Lord for strength, direction and encouragement, trusting in God's grace alone to sustain him. It has been a great joy for him since 2020, when we began collaborating together, to see this vision grow into new songwriting projects, resources and now the inaugural Beyond Parody Songwriting Competition.
 

As former Delirious? keyboardist Tim Jupp has said:
 

"Music can go to a lot of places where the preachers can't go."
 

We believe parody songs can open doors for conversations about Jesus with friends, family, colleagues and neighbours who may never otherwise engage with a sermon or traditional hymn. Our prayer is that Beyond Parody will encourage many more Christian songwriters to use this unique art form to proclaim the Gospel creatively and faithfully.

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Looking Ahead
 

Although this was our inaugural competition, we have been encouraged by the quality of the entries and hope, Lord willing, to run another Beyond Parody Songwriting Competition in the future.
 

If you enjoy writing parody songs—or have never tried before—we'd love you to consider entering next time.
 

Thank you once again to all our entrants, our judges, and everyone who has supported this new initiative. We pray that God will use these songs to bring encouragement to believers and point many others to Christ.

Our Thanks

A special word of thanks to our judging panel for generously giving their time, experience and thoughtful feedback to every entrant. Their careful consideration and constructive comments have been invaluable in selecting the winning songs and encouraging each songwriter in developing their gifts.

We are also deeply grateful to everyone who entered the competition. Your creativity, passion and desire to communicate biblical truth through music have made this inaugural Beyond Parody Songwriting Competition a wonderful beginning.

We did a parody for VE Day 80th anniversary 8th May 2025
It is based on the classic song from Simon & Garfunkel entitled The Sound of Silence
Watch Revelation TV's broadcast of the song below...