New Silver Medal Contest Announced

The Midwest Highland Arts Fund, and Midwest Pipe Band Association will play hosts to a new Silver Medal Piping Competition on January 17, 2003, in Kansas City, Missouri.

The event will be open to graded Amateur Grade 1, Advanced or Open by their home association, and competitors will submit three tunes from the Piobaireachd Society’s recommended list for the Silver Medal events at the Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting.

“There is a huge and rapidly growing interest in Piobaireachd within the United States,” said Iain Macey, founder of the new event. “The standard is without a doubt high enough for an annual Silver Medal Contest to be held.”

Macey commented that the contest will not as yet be a qualifying event for entry to the Silver Medal competitions in Scotland, which have been able to accept fewer than half of the total applications submitted in the last 10 years.

Organizers said that there will be five cash prizes, and the winner will receive US$500 and a handmade solid silver medal. Judges for the inaugural event will be Alasdair Gillies, Pittsburgh; Iain Macey, Parma, Michigan; and Jack Lee, Surrey, British Columbia.

The contest will be held before the Midwest Highland Arts Festival. The winner of the contest will be invited to perform at the festival’s “Winter Storm” recital.

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