Astonishing Talent Seizes Title of WCSA’s Young Musician of the Year
By Oliver Masley, 15, Jill Dando News Correspondent at WCSA Newsroom
Worle Community School Academy’s (WCSA), in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, music department never fails to deliver excellence in the arts.
Its alumni have gone on to become members of prestigious groups, receive scholarships, and perform in stunning venues such as the Royal Albert Hall.
It has even produced the world’s best Elvis impersonator — a title held by 21-year-old former student Emilio Santoro.
The latest cohort of aspiring actors, instrumentalists, and singers is no exception.
The school's music department invited seven of its most talented Year 7 students to its recently refurbished auditorium to compete for the title of 2025 Young Musician of the Year.
The event featured performances across a range of genres, including a song from the recent hit film K-pop Demon Hunters.
The panel of judges, made up of GCSE music students who had previously competed for the title themselves, were lost for words when describing the talent on display.
One judge remarked that they would “be keeping an eye out for these future stars of the stage.”
However, the judges entered the school’s auditorium with one clear objective in mind: to find a winner.
From the audience, the students could be seen rigorously scribbling notes - but there was one “clear winner.”
From the moment Evelyn stepped into the spotlight for the final performance of the evening, the judges took note of her confident body language and her winning smile.
Then, they were delighted not to hear a backing track booming from the speakers, but to hear a crisp chord played from her ukulele.
In recent years across the UK, there has been a significant decline in the number of students playing musical instruments. WCSA once had three full orchestras; however, in the past few years, membership has fallen to as few as five students.
This could be a result of lessons for instruments facing a steep incline in price due to the cost of living crisis, or it could even be a result of social media decreasing young people’s attention spans.
For the judges, it was overly refreshing to hear Evelyn’s performance, and when she began to sing Bruno Mars’ ‘Count on Me’ it was evident that she had the talent to take the title.
Not only does her song choice reflect the community values that are cherished at WCSA, but Evelyn performed it with a skill rarely seen in year sevens, maintaining a strong, steady voice.
Though the performance wasn’t seamless, on the one occasion that she did slip up, Evelyn quickly recovered with a confident smile, demonstrating perseverance, a quality needed by musicians in such a competitive industry.
Having been presented with her award after a unanimous vote from the judges, since the performance last Tuesday, Evelyn has gone on to join the new student led singing group ‘Vox Nova,’ and is sure to go on to achieve countless amazing things in the future.
