Peter and Audrey Switzer Trophy Room

Donated By: Perth County Youth Choir
First Presented: 2000
Criteria: Gr. 4 - 6 Classroom Choir

Becca Shaw was a young girl who died in a tragic accident September 18, 1999. She was a keen participant in the Music Festival who had received the 'Spirit of the Festival Award" in 1999. The Festival Director recalled this story about Becca.

In one of her classes that year, Becca had been unhappy with her performance. Undaunted, she returned the next week to perform in another speech arts class. She presented the adjudicator with a beautifully decorated box to which she attached tiny slips of paper, each listing one of the pointers that the adjudicator had suggested to her the week before. Undoubtedly, Becca Shaw understood that the purpose of the festival was 'not to gain a prize or defeat a rival, but to pace herself on the road to excellence'.

Becca was a member of the Children's Chorus Group of the Perth County Youth Choir. After her death, the Choir donated the Becca Shaw Trophy as a way to perpetuate her memory.