吃瓜大本营

The Elgin Park Secondary Jazz Band 11 were one of the many groups to perform at this year's 吃瓜大本营 International Jazz Festival, representing one of 16 district secondary schools and one of 41 secondary schools from across B.C. (Photo by Jacob Zinn)

The winners are in! And 吃瓜大本营 and White Rock students from five secondary schools across the district took home 21 awards and three scholarships at this year’s 吃瓜大本营 International Jazz Festival, one of Canada’s largest showcases of secondary jazz.

Semiahmoo Secondary narrowly held the title of most awards with seven, taking five of the senior categories, including Senior Jazz Band, Auxiliary Percussion, Lead Trumpet Player, Trombone Player and Piano Player. They also received junior awards for Trumpet Player and Drumming.

Grandview Heights Secondary was narrowly behind with six awards, receiving Outstanding Performance as a Junior Rhythm Section, Junior Jazz Band and Junior/Senior Auxiliary Percussion. Grandview Heights students also received individual accolades for the junior and senior Guitar Player categories Junior/Senior Saxophone Player.

Guildford Park Secondary and École Salish Secondary tied for awards with three apiece in the junior/senior categories, including Lead Trumpet and Drummer for Guildford Park, and Rhythm Section and Guitar Player for École Salish.

Guildford Park’s Matthew Calangi and École Salish’s Odelia Drysdale received the junior/senior awards for Piano and Bass, respectively, as well as scholarships to the VSO School of Music Summer Jazz Workshops.

Students from Elgin Park Secondary and École Panorama Ridge also won individual junior awards for Lead Trumpet Player and Piano, respectively, and Elgin Park’s Kai Wang received a $500 cash award from the Peninsula Arts Foundation, in memory of South 吃瓜大本营 band teacher Lorna Graham.

Click HERE for a full list of award winners and scholarship recipients.

Congratulations to all of our 吃瓜大本营 International Jazz Festival winners!