Due to bad weather, the Bland Music Contest has been postponed to February 28th. If you require any additional information, please contact Jeff Flynn at 540-972-2604.
Lake of the Woods Lions once again are offering musically talented youngsters a chance to win scholarships that could help them launch careers as vocalists or instrumentalists.
The LOW Lions Club's annual Bland Music Competition will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, February 7, at the Lake of the Woods Church. It is open to middle school and high school students throughout the area. Applications are available from Cork Grandy, (540) 972-0588; Margaret Thode, 972-5540; or by clicking here.
There will be $100 prizes for the vocalist and instrumentalist judged best in those categories, and $50 prizes for the runners-up, but the possibilities are much greater than that.
The two first-place winners will compete in March with singers and instrumentalists who have won other Lions clubs' competitions, this time in a contest covering an area of Virginia included in a Lions "zone." If they win then, they will compete in April in a contest covering a wider area, a Lions "district." And if they win then, they will compete at the state level in May at the Virginia Lions' state convention in Roanoke.
First-place vocalists and instrumentalists at the state level will be awarded $2,500 scholarships toward musical study at the colleges of their choice. Runners-up in each category will win $2,000 scholarships, and there will be $1,500 scholarships for third-place winners.
The Lions Clubs of Virginia established the Bland scholarship program in 1948. It is named for James Bland (1854-1911), an African-American songwriter who created "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny,'' "Oh! Dem Golden Slippers,'' and "In the Evening by the Moonlight.''
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Massaponax High's Megan Buhmann won $100 and a $1,500 vocalist's scholarship in 2009.
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Orange High's John Callahan won $100, but didn't reach the statewide competition.