B Y R O N B E R L I N E Youth Instrument
2024 CHAMPIONSHIPS
PHOTO BY JILL HECK
Y outhful rising stars will again have the opportunity to build their confidence in this year ’ s OIBF Youth Instrument Championships . Instrument categories most traditional to bluegrass will be featured . Old Time Fiddle Championship , Bluegrass Mandolin Championship , Flat Pick Guitar Championship , Bluegrass Banjo Championship , Bluegrass Resonator Guitar Championship , Bluegrass Bass Championship and Dobro Championship .
Contestants may sign up in the Youth Tent on the Saturday of the festival . When competing , performances must be in keeping with the “ flavor ” of the bluegrass festival . Each contestant is to spend a
total of six minutes on stage and present three separate tunes acoustically into a microphone . They are not to speak or sing . Decision makers judge the youth on the technical mastery of their bluegrass instrument .
The top three winners in each category win a cash prize and a very nice trophy . 1st Place winners receive $ 150 , 2nd place contestants win $ 100 , and 3rd place winners receive $ 50 .
These tryouts are an excellent opportunity to build upon our festival ’ s history of encouragement and development of bluegrass musicians of tomorrow , according to Youth Competition Chairman Ron Mashore .
IBF
AND THE 2023 WINNERS ARE ...
FIDDLE
1st Place McKenna Peterson 2nd Place Anna Skaggs 3rd Place Claire Friend
BANJO
1st Place Cameron Friend 2nd Place Grayson Francis
DOBRO
1st Place Travis Schoonover 2nd Place Titus Bazemore
GUITAR
1st Place Sam Scoonover 2nd Place Carly Friend
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