BATH — On Sunday, May 6, Max Ater, 19, of Bath, dazzled the judges of the Maine’s Got Talent competition in Madison by performing an original song, “Back to Romance,” with accompanying keyboard.

Ater’s winning performance earned him a $500 cash prize and additional performance opportunities, including an acting prospect.

The entire experience for Ater was more than a little overwhelming.

“I wasn’t even expecting to win,” he said. “It felt really good, not as much to win, but to be a part of something that wasn’t just about competing, but something bigger — like helping kids find their dreams.”

Barely a month before the competition, Ater was involved in a motorcycle crashed, requiring stitches and a cast on his right arm. Because of his injury, and having only just recently taken the cast off, Ater wasn’t expecting much from the competition, which is why the win came as such a surprise.

“It was a great gift for me to be able to win such an award — an honor,” Ater said.

Ater has been writing songs and performing at open microphone nights since he was 14, but he discovered his passion for the arts when he was just 6 years old.

By the time he was 10, Ater was participating in a number of community theater productions. In high school, Ater jumped at every school theater opportunity, with Kevin O’Leary, drama teacher at Morse High School, helping him every step of the way.

“I might not have graduated without him,” Ater said of O’Leary. “He was always asking, ‘What would happen if you graduate — what would happen if you don’t?’”

Ater also wrote and performed in a play for the Maine Principals Association One-Act Drama Festival in March 2011. Ater’s “In Decent Man” netted him third place, with all the piano pieces being originals.

Ater said that he is most productive in the wee hours of the morning because at that time his thinking simplifies and it is easier to work. It takes anywhere from 10 minutes to six weeks to write and arrange a song, he said, and a lot of that depends on how focused he is.

Another artistic pursuit — sculpting — keeps his mind off of songwriting because the moment it becomes more of a job than a hobby, Ater believes he will lose his passion for it.

Sculpting and piano also represent great physical therapy, he said, because they help him recover from the injury he sustained last month.

He has released a demo EP titled “Best Intentions,” and will plans to issue another recording, with the tentative title of “Time Well Spent,” within the next few months.

Ater does all his own recording in the studio at his house, and his latest project also includes a saxophone player, a bassist and a guitarist.

Ater sings most Wednesdays at the Black Barnacle’s open mic night and at various venues in Portland. As a result of his Maine Got Talent win, he will be a featured performer at the Miss Maine Scholarship Pageant Finals on June 15 at Crooker Theater in Brunswick.

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