A young Queenslander scooped the pool at the 2009 Kendall National  Violin Competition held on the Mid North Coast in September.  Glenn Christensen, 19, won every award in the competition.

First prize was a violin crafted by local luthier Graham Caldersmith.  Other prizes were the Lee Memorial Award, best performance of Bach, best  performance of an Australian composition, the audience choice vote and the  Timberlay International Travel Scholarship valued at $4000.

Other finalists to meet the judges were Liisa Pallandi, Sujin Park  and Aris Cao.

Glenn will return to Kendall this year  to give a recital - one of five paid engagements as part of the prize.

The competition began in 1999 when Graham Caldersmith made the generous  offer to donate a concert violin made from Australian native timbers each year  as a prize.

Violinists of a maximum age 23 on 1 January who are citizens or  residents of Australia  are invited to compete.

The village   of Kendall has a history  of timber milling, as well as many areas of scenic forest reserves. The village  is named after Australian poet, Henry Kendall, who was also the first NSW  Inspector of Forests. In recognition of this most appropriate use of Australian  timber, Forests NSW, a division of Industry & Investment NSW, has sponsored  the competition since its inception. Supporting sponsorship is received each  year from AST Floors of Kempsey.

Many  of the approximately 150 young violinists who have competed to date,  particularly past winners and finalists, have gone on to major achievements in Australia and  overseas.

This article appears in the Autumn/Winter 2010 edition of Bush Telegraph Magazine.