Oct. 4th 2025 NZ Young Piper of the Year adds “live boards” monitoring system for contestants

Forty-two contestants are entered for the 2025 New Zealand Young Piper of the Year competition this Saturday, October 4th, at the Nelson Centre of Musical Arts in Nelson, New Zealand, with 18 in the Under-21 events determining who wins the title.

Run by the Piping & Dancing Association of New Zealand, a “live boards” Google Sheets system will allow every competitor to monitor the progress of each event in real time rather than relying on stewards for constant updates.

Unlike most countries, New Zealand does not delineate between “amateur” and “open/professional” categories. The country is also different from most in that there are separate bodies for bands (the Royal New Zealand Pipe Bands’ Association) and solo piping (the Piping & Dancing Association of New Zealand).

The Piping & Dancing Association of New Zealand’s grading system comprises A-Grade, B-Grade, C-Grade, D-Grade, and Novice, with a special Under 21 category at most competitions. If they meet the age requirement, pipers can compete in their assigned grade and Under-21 events.

The country also differs from most in that cash prizes are offered across all solo events. Most associations worldwide award only trophies, medals and donated products for “amateur” events.

The Under 21 competitor with the most aggregate points from the Piobaireachd and MSR events wins the NZ Young Piper of the Year title for 2025 and NZD$1,000.

The judges across the events will be household names in the New Zealand solo piping circuit: Brendon Eade, Willie Rowe, Adam Waghorn, and Greg Wilson.

The event will be streamed on YouTube Live with commentary from a New Zealand-based expert, beginning at 09:00 NZT (21:00 BST / 16:00 EST) for the Under 21 Piobaireachd and 18:30 NZT (06:30 BST / 01:30 EST) for the MSR.

The annual competition was launched in 2018, and Campbell Wilson of Wellington( now living in Plzen, Czech Republic) won the award for the first five years (2018-’23). Sam Foote of Christchurch is the reigning NZ Young Piper of the Year.