Youth Champs 2025: the results

Saturday, 29 March, 2025

Today, Saturday 29 March, the National Youth Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, Youth Champs 2025, welcomed a record 40 bands to Hymers College in Hull to perform at this important national event for youth banding.

Over 1,200 young people played across three sections to two full halls of enthusiastic supporters, hosted by compères Alex Humphreys and David Hayward.

Awards were presented as below.

Championship Section

Test piece: Songs, Fanfares and Dances by Philip Sparke

1st Place: Youth Brass 2000 (Chris Jeans)
2nd Place: Wardle Academy (Bradley McCulloch)
3rd Place: Elland Silver Youth Brass Band (Samantha Harrison)

Best soloist: Darcey - Cornet for Lancashire Youth Brass Band

Adjudicated by: Ashley Dixon and Chris Houlding

Yamaha Performance Section

1st Place: Shepherd Youth Band (Craig Brown)
2nd Place: Pembrokeshire Music Service Youth Brass Band (Ian Wilkinson)
3rd Place: St Austell Youth Band (Anna Minear)

Best Soloist: Carys - Cornet for Pembrokeshire Music Service Youth Brass Band

Adjudicated by: Alan Duguid, Jamie Smith and Thomas Dunne

Besson Prodige Showcase Section

Seven bands performed in this non-competitive section, with feedback provided by adjudicators Sam Wyne and Zoe Wright.

A great day in a city of Culture

Hull has seen a variety of creative opportunities in recent years following on from its designation as City of Culture in 2017, and the location has proved popular with participants, with a record-breaking 40 bands being able to make the journey to this year’s event.

St Austell Youth Band made the journey to Hull this year, following on from their Youth Champs debut in 2024 and a fundraising campaign for this year’s visit. The band’s conductor, Anna Minear, commented: “After having such a great time at the Youth Championships in 2024 we made it our mission to attend Hull 2025! The contest is so well organised and it gives the young people the opportunity to compete against youth bands from across the country. This year we’ve had the addition of extra fundraising to do which has made the band work harder together both musically and socially. We can’t wait to know where next year’s contest will be!”

A representative from City of Hull Youth Band added: “It's great to have it local this year. It's an exciting opportunity for our quite young band to have a go at their very first brass contest. We're really enjoying taking part in the day and looking forward to hearing some of the other bands perform.”

The event’s music-making wasn’t just restricted to the bands either, with both performers and audience members being treated to a series of workshops ahead of each results ceremony, delivered by the BBE Brass Foundations team. All visitors also had the chance to try instruments or find out more about careers in music via the busy trade area, which included stalls from section sponsors Besson and Yamaha.

Following a post-pandemic break from the customary test-piece, this year’s event saw it reinstated, with the UK contesting première of Fanfares, Songs and Dances by Philip Sparke. The lively and engaging piece, with what the composer describes as "the robustness of Fanfares, the delicacy and solo opportunities of Songs and vivaciousness of Dances", provided a vivacious challenge for the 12 youth bands in the Championship section.

The winning Championship Section band, xxx Band, is now eligible to represent England in the Development Section of the 2026 European Youth Brass Band Contest in Linz, Austria.

Kenny Crookston, BBE’s CEO, commented: “With this being the biggest Youth Champs yet, I think it’s fair to say that youth banding is going from strength to strength. So I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in getting each one of those 40 bands to us today - your dedication is greatly appreciated.

I was particularly pleased to meet a number of new (to Youth Champs) bands this year, some joining us after first taking part in our new Youth Fest event last summer. I hope that these bands had a good experience and will remain with us on the Youth Champs journey.

And finally, a huge well done to xxx. You performed Fanfares, Songs and Dances wonderfully, and I know you’ll make us proud in Linz!”

Youth Champs 2026 will take place on 28 March at King Edward's School, Birmingham. Band registration will open later this year. To stay up-to-date with Youth Champs and other BBE news you can register for the Brass Bands England newsletter.

Awards full list

Championship section

Gold Award

Youth Brass 2000 (Chris Jeans)
Wardle Academy (Bradley McCulloch)
Elland Silver Youth Brass Band (Samantha Harrison)
Lions Youth Brass (Ian Raisbeck)
Lancashire Youth Brass Band (Helen Minshall)

Silver Award

Tewit Youth Senior Band (Martin Hall)
Northamptonshire County Youth Brass Band (Iain McKnight)
Grimethorpe North of England Youth( Jamie Cooper)
Oldham Music Centre Youth Brass Band (Jonathan Leedale)
Macclesfield Youth Brass Band (Louise Renshaw)

Bronze Award

Amersham Youth Band (Ash Horton)
Dobcross Youth Band (James Atkins)

Yamaha Performance section