Winning the 2023 St Paul’s Cathedral Composition Competition

I was invited to St Paul’s Cathedral, London, for the final of the competition. My piece, Ave verum corpus, had been shortlisted to the final three entries from an initial 86 submissions. Six Vicars Choral performed the finalists’ pieces in the OBE Chapel of St Paul’s for the judges, competitors, and their families. The judging panel included Cheryl Frances-Hoad (Composer), Andrew Carwood (Director of Music), and Anthony Bolton (Patron). After a brief deliberation, the judges returned to provide feedback on each composition. Following this, Andrew Carwood announced that the judges had unanimously selected my piece as the winner – a wonderful surprise and an incredible honour!