2026 Leslie Barklamb Scholarship Competition – Winners Announced

The Victorian Flute Guild is delighted to announce the prize-winners of the 53rd Annual Leslie Barklamb Scholarship Competition.

The preliminary rounds were held at Camberwell Grammar School on Sunday 30 August, with the Intermediate and Senior finalists progressing to the Finals Concert at Armadale Baptist Church on Friday 4 September.

The Finals were adjudicated by Paula Rae and Caroline Almonte.

Congratulations to all our winners, finalists and competitors.


11 Years and Under

1st Place – Lesley Guo
2nd Place – Shuling Xie

Honourable Mentions:
Olivia Chen
Alexandra Marr
Jungwon Oh
Suzanne Siu

13 Years and Under

1st Place – Lucas Tang
2nd Place – Jayden Hui

Honourable Mentions:
Vihan Dalal
Megan Jiang
Shuling Xie

15 Years and Under – Margaret Brooke Award

1st Place – Daniel Yu
2nd Place – Simone Wei

Honourable Mentions:
Rebecca Gao
Clarence Lam
Kristina Li


VCE / IB Section

1st Place – Sophie Wong
2nd Place – Ruiling Cao

Honourable Mentions:
Margie Castles
Mai Wildsmith


Intermediate Section – Nariida Coleman Award

1st Place – Jamie Sun

Jamie performed Bach’s Siciliano from the Sonata in E Major and Enesco’s Cantabile et Presto, accompanied by Ying He.

2nd Place – Kristina Li

Kristina performed Bach’s Siciliano from the Sonata in E Major and the Habanera & Finale from Borne’s Fantasie Brillante sur Carmen, accompanied by Kevin Tamanini.

Finalists Alex Zhou and Heide Peng also gave outstanding performances in this section.


Senior Section – Leslie Barklamb Scholarship

1st Place – Braden Simm

Braden performed the Allemande from Bach’s Partita in A minor and Doppler’s Fantaisie Pastorale Hongrois, accompanied by Louisa Breen.

2nd Place – Ami Humphreys

Ami performed Kent Kennan’s Night Soliloquy, Axel Jørgensen’s Romance, and Gabriel Mălăncioiu’s Aulino for solo piccolo, accompanied by Louisa Breen.

Finalists Ahra Kim and Grace Gao also presented impressive performances.


Congratulations

Congratulations to every prize-winner, finalist and competitor in the 2026 Leslie Barklamb Scholarship Competition.

The Guild extends its sincere thanks to adjudicators Paula Rae and Caroline Almonte, our accompanists, teachers, volunteers and families whose support makes this important annual competition possible.

The Leslie Barklamb Scholarship continues to provide young flautists with an opportunity to perform, develop their musicianship and share their work with the Victorian flute community.