Entries are now open for the 2024 Joan Prior Young Performers Award which Acoustic Routes (The Wellington Folk Centre) is running again this year, to support singers and musicians aged from 18 to 25.

Up to seven applicants (depending on the number of performers in each act) will be offered full weekend passes to Wellington Folk Festival (Wellyfest). They will feature in a Young Performers concert at Wellyfest.

And, following the festival, the JPA winners will appear in a special Young Performers Showcase at the Moon Bar in Newtown, on Sunday, November 17. It will be hosted by Don Mackay, who runs the popular Songwriter concerts there.

Who can enter?

The Joan Prior Award is open to performers aged from 18 to 25 on September 30, 2023, resident in the Wellington region (the area covered by Wellington Regional Council and Kapiti and Horowhenua Districts).

The award is open to singers and instrumentalists, and to performers of traditional as well as contemporary and original material. Applicants can be a solo performer, or a duo or trio.

All genres of music are acceptable. As a general guide, that includes the wide variety of mainly acoustic music performed at folk festivals.

If there are more than seven applicants, there will need to be a selection process. That will be done by a panel set up by Acoustic Routes, using video/audio samples provided by applicants as a guide. (This is the same process used by Wellyfest to select its acts).

What’s on offer?

• Full weekend passes to Wellington Folk Festival, where successful applicants will feature in a Young Performers concert.
• A special Young Performers showcase at the Moon Bar in Newtown.
• Applicants will receive free membership to Acoustic Routes for a year and will be offered the opportunity to perform at a further Young Performers concert hosted by Acoustic Routes sometime in the following year.

Acoustic Routes will also be exploring opportunities for mentoring young performers.

How to enter

To enter, simply fill in the form below and press the sed button when complete.

The deadline for entries is Sunday, September 15.

To keep up to date, sign up to the mailing list on our ‘Email Newsletters’ page.

ANY QUESTIONS? Please email them to joanprioraward@acousticroutes.org.nz.

ACOUSTIC ROUTES, the Wellington Folk Centre, set up the JOAN PRIOR AWARD for Young Performers in 2014.

JOAN PRIOR was a folk phenomenon in Wellington for thirty years, playing, singing, and making things happen. After she died in 2010 her family donated her instruments, recordings and memorabilia to Acoustic Routes, and this enabled us to set up the award in her name to encourage young acoustic performers.

Peyton Morete, Sayaka Kirkman, Zephyr Wills, Maeve Hughes, and Danica Bryant

Year	Winner
2019	HENRY BURTON-WOOD
2018	EMILY GRIFFITHS AND THOMAS STONEHOUSE
2016	HUNTER GILTRAP
2015	DANIEL WHITE
2014	FLIX ROSE