Royal Conservatoire of Scotland jazz student awards announced

(© Tommy Smith)

(Press release)

The winners of the annual awards given to students on the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland jazz course have been announced for 2022.

Drummer Chun-Wei Kang has received the George Duncan Prize for Jazz Composition and bassist Ewan Hastie has won the Mark McKergow Prize for Jazz Improvisation. Both of these awards come with a cash sum of £300.

In addition to these, the Alan McAuley Jazz Award, which comprises a certificate and $5000, this year goes to saxophonist Sean Megaw.

This is an award designed to help with Career Development and is given at the discretion of the Head of the jazz department, Special External Assessors, and External Examiners, to a musician or group of musicians in their final year. The purpose of the award is to finance studio recording and production; promotion of their own materials (including digital performance); touring and travel. 

(© Derek Clark)

Tommy Smith (pictured), head of jazz at the RCS, said. “These are all worthy winners who are being rewarded for their hard work, diligence, and creativity. Previous winners have included the pianist Fergus McCreadie and saxophonist Matt Carmichael, who have both gone on to sign prestigious recording deals and to represent Scotland and the RCS across Europe. I’m confident that our three award winners this year will go on to be great adverts for our course.”