15th annual pipes|drums New Year’s Honours

Twenty-sixteen might be seen by many in the “real” world as 12 months of bad news, but in the world of piping and drumming it was a year of triumph, as our standards climb ever higher, our events become even greater and our products that much more professional.

Since 2001 it has been our pleasure to bring to our thousands of keen readers the annual pipes|drums New Year’s Honours, and this year we celebrate our fifteenth year of the prestigious awards.

We put together a panel of 25 expert pipers and drummers who follow the scene closely, and who read pipes|drums every day to stay in touch with the news. Each panellist was asked to complete a survey and provide their personal comments. We determined nominees in each category, and also allowed panellists to submit their choice of winner in case we missed it and they felt strongly enough to put forward the piper, drummer, band, product or event.

As always, we strove to ensure that each panellist had no overlapping bias or interest. We guaranteed their anonymity, since we never want any undue influence from outside parties. The editor of pipes|drums was not on the panel, since, as always, we strive for fairness and objectivity.

We are committed to providing you with original, unbiased and fair content.

As in years past, there are seven categories:

• Pipe Band of the Year
• Piper of the Year (encompassing all aspects of their work)
• Solo Competition Piper of the Year (considering strictly competing success)
• Drummer of the Year (encompassing all aspects of their work)
• Product of the Year
• Recording of the Year
• Event of the Year

These are the categories that we believe are essential and most relevant, and we did our best to choose the nominees appropriately.

Congratulations to all of the winners on their impressive, prestigious success!

So, let’s get started . . .