THEY thought they had missed out because of the worst winter for 30 years.
But the final honours have been shared out in the Mrs Sunderland Music Festival for the contestants beaten by the snow and ice.
Part of the popular event had to be put back after snow caused traffic problems late last month.
But many of the contestants who had seen their classes cancelled returned to Huddersfield at the weekend to resume battle.
In the Junior Vocal Recital section, the winner was Heather Heighway, from Chester.
In second place was Helen Briggs of Wakefield and third Maxine Taylor, of Huddersfield University. They receive £150, £75 and £50 respectively.
In the adult vocal recital the winner was Eleanor Garside, of Oldham, who wins £250 and a trophy.
Runners up in second and third places respectively were Hoy Yuen Dominique Chan, of Leeds, and Melanie Mastrototaro, of Bolton-upon-Dearne.
The English Song Class saw a win for Maxine Taylor and a second place for David Bothwell, of Honley.
Third place went to Richard Buxton, of Huddersfield.
The adjudicator was Professor David Hoult and the accompanist was Tom Moore.
The event is an annual festival of competitive music and speech classes, which organisers hope encourages the development of performers.
It attracts hundreds of competitors from across the country to Huddersfield.
Meanwhile, a Welsh choir that took home top honours in the Mrs Sunderland music festival has praised the event.
Brythoniaid Male Voice Choir won the Jessie Jameson Centenary Baton for the best choir in the Huddersfield festival.
They took part in the contest for the first time.
The 60-strong choir also scooped two second prizes in other competitions.
They were named winners of the hotly contested Choir Prize Winners’ Challenge after a live battle against five other choirs during the festival’s closing grand gala concert.
Choir secretary Huw Trefor Jones said the group, who have won numerous competitions at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, were thrilled to have done so well in the contest.
“We would like to thank everyone who was involved in organising the Mrs Sunderland festival at Huddersfield Town Hall, a venue that has few equals for generating such excellent acoustics.
“We would like to thank all the other choirs that participated for their generous comments and support and the people of Huddersfield for their very warm welcome.”
He added: “We were thrilled and delighted with our achievement in winning the prestigious challenge and to return home with the coveted Jessie Jameson Centenary Baton”.
