Diana Emah
The yearly annual competition for choirs “Gospel Choir of the year” aired by BBC was postponed due to covid-19.
BBC said “Due to the ongoing restrictions on public gatherings we have had to make the difficult decision to postpone the Gospel Choir Of The Year competition until next year, so we won’t be accepting any entries for the time being.
Meanwhile, for this year, we’re planning a brand new competition for solo gospel singers and we hope to bring you full details in the coming weeks.”
The Gospel Choir of the year 2019 competition was held in Reading town hall on 17th November, where five(5) amateur choirs were selected amongst the numerous candidates for the finals to have a chance to win the Song of Praise Gospel Choir of the Year trophy.
YolanDa Brown (Saxophonist and broadcaster) hosted the competition in the Songs of Praise calendar, the Gospel Choir of the Year competition 2019. In the first of two programmes, five of the best amateur choirs from across the country took the stage at Reading Town Hall to sing in front of that year judges. Our gospel choirs had to impress three judges – leading gospel vocal coach Mark De-Lisser, West End star Brenda Edwards and pop icon Rick Astley. The choirs all around the country. From Hull was G Choir, from Preston in Lancashire came One Voice Community Choir, there was Cambridge University Gospel Choir, from Coventry Nexus ICA Gospel Choir, and in their home town was Reading Community Gospel Choir. Plus there was a guest performance from MOBO award winner Lurine Cato.
Winners of the competition
The winners of the 2019 Gospel Choir of the Year competition was Reading Community Gospel Choir with their beautiful performance of the song title “STRANGER”. One of the judges Mark De-Lisser commented that ” to be able to communicate the Gospel message through song is great, but to be able to arouse the curiosity of someone with body movements is incredible”.
