Gold Medallions and Trophies: How Festival Prizes Work
Not every performing arts competition spells out what a winner actually walks away with. At the North of Perth Music Festival, the prize structure runs from certificates and personal adjudicator reports at every level right up to a $2,500 cash award for the single most outstanding performance across all categories. Understanding how those layers connect helps families and teachers set realistic goals before they enter.
The full prize pool: $11,000 across all categories
The festival distributes $11,000 worth of prize money across piano, strings, singing, instrumental and speech and drama, with the City of Bayswater as major sponsor and Zenith Music as the main award sponsor. That total is spread across multiple award tiers rather than concentrated in one or two big cheques, which means competitive opportunities exist at junior and senior levels, in Open Championships and in encouragement categories. The 2025 results show how widely recognition can spread: separate awards went to Outstanding Junior Strings Solo, Outstanding Junior Vocalist, Outstanding Junior Instrumentalist, Piano Open Championship, Strings Open Championship, Outstanding Senior Vocalist, Outstanding Senior Instrumentalist, and Outstanding Speech and Drama, among others.
What is the Zenith Music award and who can win it?
The Zenith Music award is a $2,500 cash prize given to the performer judged to deliver the Overall Outstanding Performance of the entire festival. Any participant across any category is eligible: in 2025 the award went to the Hale Bravura Quartet, meaning an ensemble entry can win as readily as a solo one. Zenith Music has backed this award as main award sponsor, making it the single largest individual prize on offer. Because it cuts across categories, a speech and drama entrant is competing on equal footing with a pianist or vocalist for this recognition, provided the adjudicators judge their performance the most compelling of the season.
Gold medallions: what they are and why they matter
Alongside cash prizes, the festival awards gold medallions to outstanding performers. A medallion is a keepsake, distinct from a certificate. The festival also presents trophies, including named perpetual trophies with genuine history behind them. Heath Ledger won the Ramsay McLean Perpetual Trophy for the Most Outstanding Speech and Drama Item at the 1995 festival, a detail that illustrates how long these named awards have been part of the competition. Lisa McCune won the City of Bayswater Shield for the Ladies Vocal Championship in 1990.
Adjudicator reports: the prize every single entrant receives
Every performer, regardless of placing, receives a personal report from a qualified adjudicator. This is worth treating as a prize in its own right, particularly for students at early stages of development. A written report from a qualified adjudicator gives an outside view that is different from a weekly lesson, at a festival that has been running since 1957. For a young pianist or drama student building a portfolio, that written feedback has genuine value when auditions or school applications come around.
How are winners selected at each level?
Adjudication is done by qualified judges who assess performances on the day, and the structure separates Junior from Senior categories, with named awards at each level. The 2025 results included an Encouragement Award Junior (shared by Karin Yorozu and Lily Sawyer) and an Encouragement Award Senior (Raphael Yong), showing that recognition reaches well beyond the open championship titles. A People's Choice Award runs separately at both Junior and Senior levels, giving audiences a role in recognition: in 2025 those went to St. Mark's Viva Ritmo Voices and James Giuffre respectively. The combination of adjudicator awards and audience awards means a performance can be recognised by more than one panel.
Named trophies and the alumni who won them
The perpetual trophies and named shields are perhaps the clearest proof that this prize structure carries weight beyond a single year. Carl Vine AO, one of Australia's most performed composers and a Senior Lecturer in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, won first prize in the fourth grade piano section at the 1967 festival. Paul O'Neill, a tenor who has performed with the Staatsoper Berlin, won the Overall Most Outstanding Performance in 2003. Both are listed among the festival's documented past winners. For a family weighing whether the awards mean anything, the answer is in the full list of outstanding winners stretching back decades.
When do the sessions and Winners' Concerts run?
In 2026 the competitive sessions ran from Saturday 5 September to Sunday 20 September at The Rise in Maylands. The Winners' Concerts, where the top performers are recognised publicly, were held on Saturday 10 October for Juniors and Sunday 11 October for Seniors, both in the Wellington Room at the Morley Recreation Centre. Performing again in front of an audience is part of what makes an outstanding win memorable.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have to win a category to receive any recognition at all?
No. Every performer who takes part receives a personal report from a qualified adjudicator. Category prizes, gold medallions and trophies are awarded to top performers, but the adjudicator report is universal and is often the most practically useful thing a developing performer takes home.
Can a group or ensemble win the $2,500 Zenith Music award?
Yes. The 2025 Overall Outstanding Performance award went to the Hale Bravura Quartet, which is an ensemble entry. The award goes to whoever the adjudicators judge as the single most outstanding performance across all categories and all ages, solo or group.
What is the Ramsay McLean Perpetual Trophy?
It is a named perpetual trophy awarded for the Most Outstanding Speech and Drama Item. Heath Ledger won it at the 1995 festival. Its past winners are part of the festival's documented history on the Outstanding Winners page.
Are there separate prize tiers for juniors and seniors?
Yes. The festival recognises Junior and Senior performers separately across most named awards, including Outstanding Vocalist, Outstanding Instrumentalist, Outstanding Strings Solo, Encouragement Award and People's Choice Award. The Overall Outstanding Performance and the Open Championships draw from both groups.
Where can I see the names of past outstanding winners?
The festival publishes its past outstanding winners on its own website, with documented stories going back to Carl Vine AO's 1967 piano win. The 2025 results are also listed there in full, covering every named award category from Secondary School Choir through to People's Choice Senior.
Sources
This article draws on the following pages.