The Royal School of Church Music, in partnership with Cathedral Music Trust is delighted to announce the recipients of this year’s Church Choir Awards. Now in its fourth year, the Church Choir Award recognises and supports excellence in choral music-making by church choirs, and gives them the opportunity to innovate and develop their work.  The Award provides up to £10,000 of funding for innovative projects as well as a year’s Group Membership of the RSCM and access to our Voice for Life Digital® training programme.

‘It is exciting to see that, right across the country, there are examples of innovation designed to energise church music in a local context. I hope that these will serve as encouragement to others, as we all seek to see church music grow and strengthen in its presence. In particular, a commitment to seeing young people flourish runs through these awards, and we are delighted to be working in partnership with the Cathedral Music Trust to be able to support these new initiatives.’ – Hugh Morris

St Botolph, Boston, Lincs.

Funding will help the choir to provide support for transport to remove barriers to being in the choir.

“The award will allow us to support disadvantaged choristers and enable them to grow their musical skills as valued members of our historic, living choral tradition, reducing barriers to access for young people, caused by the combination of our rural setting and a lack of access to private transport.” – John Lyon

Holy Trinity, Guildford

Funding will help the choir to set up a ‘Changing Voices Programme’ to support both boy and girl choristers through voice change.

“This funding will significantly improve the support we can provide to choristers going through voice change. Not only will this help these boys and girls at a difficult time, but it will also enable them to continue singing, enriching our choir and the wider choral scene into their teenage years.” – Nick Graham

St Gabriel, Newcastle

Funding will help the choir to recruit two choral scholars to mentor young singers, lead services, and assist with Kodály-based training for 5-13-year-olds.

“This award helps us offer something rare: free, high-quality musical training for children who might otherwise miss out. Our new choral scholars will not only inspire and support young singers—they’ll also grow as leaders themselves, gaining invaluable and personally tailored experience in education, mentoring, and choral leadership.” – Tim Burke, Choir Director

St Peter, Earley

Funding will help the choir to provide singing lessons, workshops, ‘Be a Chorister’ days, cathedral visits and social events.

“This award will allow us to develop our Song School set-up and provide additional initiatives such as singing lessons, recruitment drives, socials and outreach events. The Song School is an important part of our church and we hope the children involved will benefit greatly from this grant.” – Ben de Souza, Director of Music

Bradford Catholic Youth Choir

Funding will help the choir provide an additional Choral Director at rehearsals to support young singers through vocal transitions, lead sectionals for those moving from junior to senior choirs, and found two changing voices groups.

“Our singers are drawn from state schools across Bradford, one of the most deprived cities in the country. This grant will enable us to give extra musical and technical support to these children at key transitions in their vocal lives, ensuring the many benefits of choral singing last a lifetime.” – Craig Perkinton, Choral Director

St Martin in Roath

Funding will help to establish a junior section of their Liturgical Choir.

“This award will allow us to establish a junior section to our Liturgical Choir with a dedicated animateur to enthuse and train a new generation of choristers. This fills a missing link in our music programme and will assist us with our missionary work among young people.” – Timothy Hill, Director of Music

St Mary the Virgin, Merton Park, SW London

Funding will help to create a weekly Music Theory and Musicianship club.

“This award will allow us to provide more tuition to our choristers, developing their skills they use on a weekly basis already. It’ll be transformational for our youngest choristers in particular, who can grow their musicianship further, and can impact the wider community too, potentially helping with chorister recruitment.” – Tristan Weymes

Find out more HERE