The 20th annual pipes|drums New Year’s Honours

It was 2001 when we started the annual pipes|drums New Year’s Honours, and who would have predicted that our twentieth year would be so royally disrupted by a global pandemic?

Regardless, there were pipers, drummers, bands, products and events to acknowledge and celebrate, particularly in a year that saw the usual criteria change so dramatically. There were feats of tenacious creativity, leadership and commitment that have kept the global piping and drumming scene going hen so much seemed lost.

It was a year bereft of competition, so the weight of criteria changed from the number of prizes won to a bigger picture of activity and contribution to the art.

As ever, we pulled together a group of 20 pipers and drummers who have their finger on the pulse of the body piping, drumming and politics, for their votes and comments. None of the panellists had any attachments to or personal connections with any of the nominees.

To be sure, there are many who made sizeable contributions in 2020. We congratulate all nominees and those who did their part to further piping and drumming over the last 12 months.

Once again, there were seven categories:

• Pipe Band of the Year (all things considered, in addition to competition)
• Piper of the Year (encompassing all aspects of their work)
• Solo Competition Piper of the Year (considering strictly competition success)
• Drummer of the Year (encompassing all aspects of their work)
• Association Leader of the Year
• Product of the Year
• Event of the Year

And now on to the results . . .