Fiddler, Greg et al, I'm not in any way disagreeing with you regarding the encouragement and guidance of young performers, nor with the 'Young Performer' competition per se. As a performer in various genres for the past 42 years (albeit only as a semi-pro) I've gone through the young- and middle-age bit and I'm now entering 'younger-old age' (and still performing!), so I'm aware of the problems that youth and inexperience can throw up. I'm just concerned that Folk Music may go down the road that Rock/Pop seems to have gone, and that only the young will be regarded as having anything worthwhile to offer, whilst the older, more experienced performer will be regarded more and more as being worthless. In a different time I distinctly remember a youthful John Lydon declaring that Punks were producing the only valid music on the Rock scene, and that bands such as the Rolling Stones were a load of Boring Old Farts - how many sell-out world tours has Mr. Lydon undertaken in the past couple of years (or ever?)?

As I said earlier, talent is talent irrespective of age. Yes, lets welcome young performers with open arms and nurture and encourage their burgeoning talents, but let's not forget those who've been around for a while and, incidentally, won't be around for ever. Today's kids are tomorrow's oldies.

JMHO :-)

Peace Brothers,
Johnny