Keira Moran Vying For Songwriting Prize

This week, Keira Moran, the 16-year-old granddaughter of U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-8th), is in the midst of a campaign of her own.

The T.C. Williams student is competing in a songwriting contest on the website SmashTune.com. Despite being a late entry, the video for her song “When I’m With You” is in the final four of the competition.

“I just saw that the prize was performing at the Kauai Music Festival [in Hawaii] and I entered my video,” Moran said. “If I had known the contest was already more than half over and the other videos were mostly experienced singers from big cities, I probably would not have entered.”

Moran, a rising junior, has hit the local airwaves to drum up some votes. Listen to her interview on 94.7 Fresh FM where she gives a shoutout to St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub. A St. Elmo’s T-shirt also makes an appearance in her video.

Moran is skilled in several instruments and plays first-chair cello with the T.C. Williams orchestra. She lives with her family just up the hill from Del Ray on Taylor Run Parkway and performed on the side stage at the Del Ray Music Festival just this past weekend. She also performed for her grandfather at an event to celebrate his two decades in congress.

To vote for Moran’s “When I’m With You,” click here. Voting ends at 2 p.m. Thursday.