THE HISTORY
Osborne Organ Competition
The Osborne Organ Competition is held every two years in support of advanced study in organ or church music by young Canadian organists.
The Founders
The Florence and Stanley Osborne Scholarship in Church Music is named for Mrs. & Dr. Stanley Llewellen Osborne , who funded the first scholarship in organ performance at the Summer Institute of Church Music.
Dr. Stanley Llewellen Osborne
1972
The Summer Institute of Church Music held its first organ competition in 1972. From 12 entrants, six finalists were chosen, and Terence Ford and Gertrude Olford were chosen as winners by a jury chaired by that year’s organ instructor, George Faxon. The prizes were announced by their donor, Dr. J. N. Lowes. The competition was held again in 1973 and 1974.
1976
In 1976, the competition took on its current biennial shape and awarded a scholarship instead of a prize. With proceeds from If Such Holy Song (Whitby, 1976), his commentary on the 1971 joint hymn book of the United Church of Canada and Anglican Church of Canada, Dr. Stanley Llewellen Osborne, the founding Director of the Summer Institute of Church Music endowed, via the Osborne Organ Competition Fund, a scholarship in Church Music to be awarded biennially by organ competition.
2005
In 2005 the event was formally renamed the Osborne Organ Competition in honour of its founders, Mrs. & Dr. Stanley Llewellen Osborne, who originally endowed the tradition of the Institute giving a scholarship for advanced study in church music, to be awarded by organ competition.
2007
In 2007 SICM launched the Holy Song touring program as a profile-raising initiative for the Institute and a fund-raiser for the Osborne Organ Competition Fund. To date, several thousand dollars have been raised in support of the fund.
2014
Concerned with the standard of hymn-playing in recent competitions, and wanting to encourage competitors to focus more on service-playing skills, alongside their repertoire selections, the SICM Board expanded the hymn-playing requirement of the final round effective in 2014 to include a short improvisation and the accompanying of a cantor.
2018
The 25th biennial competition is held in the lead-up to SICM’s 50th Session. The 2004 Competition’s First Prizewinner, Dr Ryan Jackson, returns to Chair the Final Round Jury.
2022
SICM celebrates the history and legacy of the Osborne Organ Competition with a special live webcast from All Saints Anglican Church in Whitby featuring SICM East Organ Instructor Sarah Svendsen and past prizewinners from the competition’s 50-year history.
COMPETITION HISTORY
Past Winners
Past Winners & Jury Chairs
No competition held due to COVID-19
No competition held due to COVID-19
Winner: Stefani Bedin
Second Prize: Robert Hamilton/Nicholas Walters
Chair of Jury: Dr. Ryan Jackson
No competition was held.
Winner: Stephen Boda
Second Prize: David Simon & Matthew Whitfield
Jury Chair: David Palmer
Winner: Matthieu Latreille
Second Prize: Stephen Boda & Francine Nguyen-Savaria
Jury Chair: Rachel Lauren
Second Prize: Rachel A. Mahon
Jury Chair: Roger Bergs
Second Prize: Matthew Coons
Jury Chair: Michael Bloss
Second Prize: Isabelle Demers
Jury Chair: Paul Halley
Winner: Ryan Jackson
Second Prize: Ryan Enright
Jury Chair: Paul Jacobs
Winner: Geoffrey Ward
Jury Chair: William O’Meara & William Maddox
Second Prize: Jennifer Loveless
Jury Chair: Joan Lippincott
Jury Chair: Donald Sutherland
Jury Chair: John Weaver
Second Prize: James Andrew Calkin
Jury Chair: Judith Hancock
Jury Chair: David Higgs
Jury Chair: James Bigham
Winner: John Charron
Jury Chair: Clyde Holloway
Winner: Heather Rice
Other finalists: Danielle Dube, Marie Bouchard
Jury Chair: Gerre Hancock
Winner: Michael Bloss, Derek Smith
Other finalists: Heather Rice, Marie Bouchard
Jury Chair: Frederick Swann
Jury Chair: Marilyn Mason
Winner: Patricia Snyder
Jury Chair: Wilbur Held
Jury Chair: Gerald Bales
Jury Chair: James Litton
Winner: Pamela Gil
Jury Chair: Alec Wyton
Winner: Terence Ford
Second Prize: Gertrude Olford
Jury Chair: George Faxon
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