The hotly contested National Jazz Award Finals were held today at the TAC Wangaratta Festival of Jazz with Sydney’s Elana Stone collecting the first prize.
Second prize went to 26 year old Jo Lawry from Adelaide and third prize to Kristin Berardi also from Sydney.
The winner receives $6000 plus a studio recording session for ‘Jazztrack with Mal Stanley’ on ABC Classic FM. The runner-up receives a cash prize of $3000 and the third finalist a prize of $1500.
Australia’s most prestigious jazz competition, the National Jazz Awards feature a different instrument every year. This year the featured instrument was voice, for the first time since 1998. The ten finalists, chosen from recorded entries submitted by musicians from across Australia, performed in a series of live heats over the TAC Wangaratta Festival weekend.
The finalists’ performances were assessed by a judging panel chaired by internationally-respected pianist Mike Nock and two leading jazz singers, London-based Anita Wardell and Melbourne-based Michelle Nicolle (who won the National Jazz Award in 1998).
The National Jazz Awards have been staged since 1990 as part of Australia’s premier jazz festival, the TAC Wangaratta Festival Of Jazz. The National Jazz Awards are now well and truly established as the most important and prestigious jazz competition in Australia. The competition has helped boost the careers of such outstanding talents as Barney McAll, Julien Wilson, Stephen Magnusson, James Muller, Scott Tinkler, Phil Slater, Felix Bloxsom and Michelle Nicolle.
The National Jazz Awards are again proudly sponsored by Bruck Textiles, one of the major employers in Wangaratta’s local economy.
