Another high note for NWRC as students collect top awards at Music Skills NI

Music students at North West Regional College (NWRC) have picked up three of the top six awards at this year’s prestigious Music Skills NI competition.

NWRC’s stunning theatre at the Foyle building in Derry~Londonderry was the venue for the competition this week which showcased the cream of the crop of music students from across the province.

The event saw students from Level 3 – Level 5 music programmes from NWRC, Belfast Met, Southern Regional College and South Eastern Regional College competing for the top titles in a range of categories that included DJing, Singer Songwriter and Original Band.

The compere for the day was Highland Radio’s Lee Gooch and the judges tasked with the difficult job of choosing the winners were:  Paddy Glasgow of the Glasgowbury festival, Aaron Todd of the  Dublin Short Film and Music Festival; Alanna Henderson – Musician; Phil Kieran DJ; Gareth Stewart of Celtronic and Ross Parkhill, Director of Stendhal.

Home grown talent was to the fore throughout the competition with North West Regional College students collecting the top prizes in three categories.

NWRC student Roisin Donald ROE, was the winner in the Singer Songwriter section, NWRC band Duchess won the Original Bands Section and NWRC band Nudist Buddhist picked up the top prize in the Covers Band section.

North West Regional College also scooped two runner up prizes with Jordan Villa in the DJing category and Gareth McRory in the Soundtrack section.

Full details of the winners from the MusicSkills Competitions  are as follows:

Singer/Songwriter

Winner: Roisin Donald NWRC

Runner up: Michael James Warke SERC

DJing

Winner: Matt Dolan Belfast Met

Runner up: Jordan Villa NWRC

Live electronics

Winner: D.A.V.E. Belfast Met

Soundtrack

Winner: Geordie McKinney SRC

Runner up: Gareth McRory NWRC & Jack Torrens, Belfast Met.

Originals Band

Winner: Duchess NWRC

Runner up: Sit Tight SERC

Covers Band

Winner: Nudist Buddhist NWRC

Runner up: The Grapes SRC and Mulholland Collective, Belfast Met.