An Inverell East Rotary Club event, member Tim Newberry was at the helm again this year. He said performers came from Warialda, Ashford, Inverell and Bingara.

“I was a great night. There was a lot of work behind the scenes, but it flowed well,” Mr Newberry said.

The 2011 IGT winner Megan Longhurst treated the Inverell audience to the debut of her single, Ice Girl, to be released tomorrow on iTunes. 

“The fact that she came from Inverell is such an inspiration for the kids, because they can see, ‘She grew up like me, and look what’s she’s become, and I can certainly aspire to be something’,” judge Sandy McNaughton said.

When it came to making the ultimate decision, judges Sandy McNaughton, Little Phoenix, and Jan Rose were under pressure.

“It was excruciating because there was really outstanding talents,” Sandy said.

The two ultimate winners of the evening were both songwriters and performers. Kathryn Luxford, 11, took the Junior Section prize with her self-penned song, Walk Alone. 

“She really stood out to me. Here’s a girl who equally could be on The Voice or could be on stage in a really big way, and she again wrote her own piece,” Sandy said.

In the Senior Division, performers Benita McElhinney, Jemima McLachlan, duo Beau Monckton and Brendan Evans, Craze Dance Group and Ashleigh Campbell were selected as the top five standouts. The judges awarded first prize to Jemima for her performance of her own song, You.

“For me personally, because she’d written such a standout piece of music, it was a terrific composition and it was mature and it was very personal and heartfelt,” Sandy said.

Tim was complementary about the calibre of performances and said there was only a little evidence of nerves on the night.

“It’s quite amazing the amount of talent that is in Inverell and around the districts,” he said.

“For some of those kids, it’s the first time they’ve ever sung in public, so it’s big thing to get up and sing to an audience of 450 people.”