How Winning the Bernard/Ebb Award Changed Eryn Michel’s Life in 2024
The local songwriter used her $10K prize to create new music, build community, and give back to fellow artists and veterans.
By Adaobi Oniwinde
Songwriter and Iraq War veteran Eryn Michel’s journey to winning the 2024 Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Awards wasn’t a conventional one. In fact, there is nothing conventional about her story.
Michel first heard about the competition years earlier. Her manager and others encouraged her to enter, but—as with most things in her life—she told them the timing had to feel right.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to enter,” says Michel, who lives in Gaithersburg, MD. “I knew I would, and believed that if I entered, I would perform as a finalist. So, I had to be emotionally and physically ready for it."
In 2023, Michel attended the award ceremony as an audience member. During the event, she says she heard a voice from her heart say: It’s this year. You’re entering this year.
She listened to that voice. And in April 2024, wearing the same teal crocheted dress as the year before, Michel performed—and won—the competition’s $10,000 grand prize.
“The money was a blessing. I used it to upgrade equipment for my home studio, which has led to my first TV commercial for Goodwill,” she says. “I felt like I’d won even before I finished the first song. I had a moment every songwriter dreams of.”
She performed “A Little Rusty,” a song about hope and daring to love again, based on her mother and stepfather’s first date.
“During the bridge, I noticed a woman in the audience grab her chest, choking back tears, and I knew the song had made a connection,” Michel says. “She didn’t see me. She saw a part of herself.”
Those connections have continued, often through the strong bonds formed among the 2024 finalists.
Michel explains that the competition fostered new collaborations, including a project with pianist Eli Staples, who performed with co-finalist Debórah Bond. She’s also working with fellow finalist Teghan Devon this April on a co-writing initiative through a women-led studio that brings women together to create.
Last August, she collaborated with producer Austin Bello and local artists Emily Henry and Kimberly Shires on a “pre-apocalyptic bop” called “We Tried!!!”.
The track—written in two days and produced within 65—has become Michel’s highest-streaming song to date.
“I was able to invite fellow artists to record without worrying about the cost of studio fees,” she says. “I still pinch myself because We Tried!!! could never have happened the way it did without the award.”
Winning the Bernard/Ebb grand prize also gave Michel the time and energy to give back to the veteran community. Through her work with the Warrior Music Foundation, she co-wrote a song with a disabled veteran for his wife, in appreciation of her support during his difficult deployment.
“There wasn't a dry eye in the (Zoom) house,” says Michel. “Michael Caimona said it was one of the best moments he’d experienced since starting the Warrior Music Foundation eight years ago.”
Michel doesn’t take anything for granted. She’s on a double mission: supporting fellow veterans and nurturing the next generation of local songwriters.
That mission is already in motion. A high school music teacher invited her to guest lecture after learning about her through the award.
On April 3, Michel will attend this year’s Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Awards concert and ceremony with former grand prize recipients Josh Lay, Juliet Lloyd, and Heather Aubrey Lloyd. She hopes to take a “family photo” with additional past winners and the 2025 grand prize recipient.
“The Bernard/Ebb Award isn’t just a trophy or a check,” she says. “Whoever wins is joining a supportive community that will be actively rooting for them through their next musical chapter.”
Michel believes this year’s award is about to change another life—just like it changed hers.