National Busking Finals Update 2024
It might have been a case of singing in the rain at Cooma on the weekend of 30th November National Busking Finals, but that didn’t dampen the spirit of those involved, and it was pleasing to see great results yet again from our Central Coast buskers.
Rotarians from Erina went to Cooma to join in the fun and showed their support for the representatives that won their category on the Central Coast: Coral Renee (Open category), Maverick Leslie-Fitch (Secondary age), Belle Norman (Primary age).
The judges included Central Coast Heat’s 2022 Winners, The James Brothers, who were looking for how buskers personified ANBC’s message about celebrating the rich diversity of Australian Music and Street Performance Culture.
For the third year in a row a Central Coast star busker became the National Champion! Belle Norman won the Primary-aged category for a second time and took home $600 in prizes and a big trophy. We were well represented in the NSW Championships categories – Coral Renee and Maverick Leslie-Fitch were all Highly Commended and received substantial prizes.
Belle’s mother said “Belle is so excited to be a part of the competition, and to win is just the best! She will be adding the prize money from today to that she received at The Entrance, to save up to be able to attend the Country Music Academy, she’s hooked on performing now!”
The overall Winner of the ANBC 2024 was Arthur Hull from Rutherglen, a contestant on last season’s ‘The Voice’ and the People’s Choice Award went to Taylah Shae.
2024 Competition Results
The 2024 National Busking Competition for the Central Coast was held on Sunday 29th September.
It has continued to be popular with participants and visitors alike. The Rotary Clubs of Erina, The Entrance, were joined by West Pennant Hills-Cherrybrook Rotary Club on the day to host this amazing event that profiles all ages of talent here on the coast. From a classical saxophone player busking for the first time to a seasoned 11-year-old talent already a Central Coast and National Champion, we had a great quality of performances.
The performances were held in and around the Memorial Park, the Boardwalk, the Plaza and Marine Parade, the Fairground entertainment, and the ever-popular Pelican Express little blue train rides. The Memorial Park stage hosted the finale concert of the buskers that had been selected during their morning performances by the judges and the audiences to be finalist for the prize giving.
Many people who were new to the event stayed for the concert of the finalist performers to see if the busker they voted for with busking tokens they purchased from the Rotarians won the ‘People’s Choice’ Award.
People’s Choice was local lad, 15-year-old Maverick Leslie-Fitch, first time busker, and another local lad Kassidy Lalor was runner up.
“ It was a great day with heaps of local talent and the finale concert was where all the performers stepped up their performances for a great show” said a Rotary Club spokesperson, “ the People’s Choice is my favourite award because people are voting for their favourite performer and supporting local charity Central Coast Kids in Need by buying the fundraising tokens to vote”
The National Champions, and the winners of our inaugural event, The James Brothers were joined by Rhia Norcott, DJ with Coast FM, and Allan Spencer the founder of the Australian National Busking Championships to undertake the formal judging for the three other categories.
Each category winner, including the People’s Choice automatically gains an invitation to compete at the National Finals in Cooma on Saturday 30th November for the opportunity to become this year’s National Champion.
Results:
Adult Winner– Coral Renee – a previous participant with us last year – website is www.coralrenee.com and socials are instagram.com/coralrenee and facebook.com/coralrenee .
Adult runner up – Denim Duo – Mitchi Renegen and Megan Jane, who also placed second in the People’s Choice #denimduo for social media rather than having a dedicated page to direct people to both our individual pages.
Facebook and Instagram addresses:
– for Mitchi Renegen
www.facebook.com/buskerman/ and www.instagram.com/mitchi.renegen
– for Meagan Jane www.facebook.com/meaganjanemusic/ and www.instagram.com/meaganjanemusic/
12 – 17 years Winner – Maverick Leslie- fitch Maverick Leslie-Fitch – YouTube
Runner up – Layla Forsythe
U12 – Winner Belle Norman – https://spotify.link/aDDXYCYngDb
People’s Choice Winner – Maverick Leslie-Fitch: Maverick Leslie-Fitch – YouTube
Runner up – Kassidy Lalor: Kassidy Lalor (@kassidylalor_) • Instagram photos and videos
The event was supported by a CC Council grant for event infrastructure, Bendigo Bank community Banks Central coast, sponsored the prizes, along with Simply stunning Syles and Kuoch Chemist. Coast FM, Gosford Signs, Kwik Kopy Gosford, and BAX Audio were partners for the event on the day, including promotion and a live broadcast from the event.
Many of the busking and final concert performances were filmed and will be loaded to the ANBC YouTube, so check out the link to see what’s up there. Also check out the Facebook reels on the ANBC Facebook page.
This year funds raised from the event will help Central Coast Kids In Need.
Click on the images below to enlarge.
2023 Competition Results
The 2023 National Busking Competition Central Coast Chapter was held on Sunday 24th September. Once again the performances were outstanding, the weather was kind and the crowds enjoyed a mix of wonderful entertainment.
And to crown the success of the 2023 event, Under 13 winner of the Central Coast Busking Competition Belle Norman, was the winner of the Primary Section in the Cooma Grand Final on 26 November. Our congratulations to Belle.
A huge thank you to all our sponsors, supporters, volunteers and participants.
The National Champions, and the winners of our 2022 heat, The James Brothers were joined by Rhia Norcott, DJ with Coast FM and Allan Spencer the founder of the Australian National Busking Championships to undertake the formal judging for the three main categories.
The winners of 2023 are:
ADULT WINNER – Owen Smith (who participated last year).
Owen’s website is https://owensmithguitar.com and socials are instagram.com/owensmithguitar and facebook.com/owensmithguitar. And his performance on the day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NEn4BJHYqU
Adult runner up – VACEO – a group of Vietnamese/Australian fusion music, who also placed third in the People’s Choice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ797DhRadU
13 – 17 years Winner – Hayden Phillis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zKIyDdO6lY
Runner up – Eve Pagacova
Highly Commended – Coral Renee https://www.abc.net.au/triplejunearthed/artist/coral-renee/
U13 years – Winner Belle Norman – https://spotify.link/aDDXYCYngDb
People’s Choice – Jacob Carroll
2nd Place – Beatrix Jackson
Third Place – VACEO
Highly Commended – Lucy and Josh Beveridge
Coral Renee
Click here for a link to the Coast Community News article on the event
