Balvenie Medal nomination process formalized by Glenfiddich organizers

Since 1985, the Balvenie Medal for Services to Piping has been awarded at the Glenfiddich Invitational Solo Piping Competition, and starting this year a formal process for nominations and selection will be introduced by the William Grant Foundation and the National Piping Centre, organizers of the contest.

Nominations will open from February 1st to March 31st each year, and a committee of representatives from the William Grant Foundation, the National Piping Centre and two “external members” will determine the award recipient.

According to the National Piping Centre, nominations should include:

• The nominee’s name.
• A summary of their involvement in piping.
• How they have demonstrated exceptional service to piping and their influence or impact on the piping world.
• Why it would be appropriate to recognize them at this time.
• The name(s) of the person/people submitting the nomination with contact email address and phone number for the nominator. If there is more than one nominator, it only needs to contain the lead contact’s details.
• How the nominator knows the nominee.

The Balvenie Medal recipient will not be revealed to the recipient or anyone else until its presentation at the competition, continuing the tradition of the prize.

Nominations can be for and made by anyone in the worldwide piping community and should be submitted by email or post to National Piping Centre Head of Events and Piping Live! Festival Manager Helen Urquhart: hurquhart@thepipingcentre.co.uk / The National Piping Centre, 30-34 McPhater Street, Glasgow, G4 0HW.

Past recipients of the Balvenie Medal include mostly highly successful competing pipers and judges and some relatively lesser-known contributors like Bessie Brown, Jackie Roberts, Cristiano Bicudo, Maclean MacLeod, and Jimmie McGregor. The 2023 Balvenie Medal winner was Roddy MacLeod.