The Boys’ Brigade NI District ran three musical competitions throughout January to kick start BB activities in 2021. For the first time the Annual Junior Section Musician of the Year competition went virtual. And in another first the District ran a Company Section Musician of the Year competition. A Praise Competition was also run for the Anchors, who were invited to sing along to their favourite praise song. A wide variety of instruments, solo voices and pieces were played or sung overall. An independent adjudicator judged all three competitions remarking how impressed he was with the overall standard. We congratulate all the boys who made the effort to record and submit an entry.

Speaking about the competition David Penney, Training and Programme Officer at The Boys’ Brigade NI District said:

‘Despite a tough January 2021 lockdown and the pressures of home schooling we wanted to continue to offer our very popular annual Junior Section Musician of the Year competition; indeed we extended the opportunity to both the Company Section and Anchors. We were delighted with the level of interest and entries, particularly from the Company Section. I want to record our thanks to the Leaders and parents who helped with the recordings and uploading entries and our volunteer Leaders who planned the competitions with myself. Activities like this are so important for our children and young people to help them with their emotional well-being, encouraging them to express themselves and get into some purposeful and challenging activities. We are grateful that BB is in a position of influence to help with this’.

Feedback received from parents included:

‘It was a great idea for a competition, and so lovely for the boys to get a chance to work on something other than homeschooling. It was a very straightforward application and upload, many thanks to you for organising’.

Congratulations goes to the following:

Anchors: Winner Theo Blacklock, 1st Lisburn; Runner-Up Oscar McColgan, 6th Londonderry, 3rd Place Michael Bullen, 16th Newtownabbey.
Juniors: Winner Matthew Wilson, 6th Newtownards; Runner-Up Patrick Hart, 1st Hillsborough; 3rd Place Lucas Yin, 2nd Antrim; Highly Commended Harry Llyod, 2nd Comber.
Company Section: Winner Christopher Anderson, 3rd Newtownards; Runner-Up Lewis Doherty, 1st Ballykelly; 3rd place Jan Faulkner, 1st Donaghcloney; Highly Commended: Jonathan Allen, 2nd Lisburn; Daniel Cruikshank, 2nd Ballymena; Jason Hamilton, 1st Comber.

Tags: Anchor Praise, Company Section Musician of the year, competition, Express Yourself, Junior Section Musician of the Year, music, NID, northern Ireland District