Performer Felicity Kircher was awarded first prize last Saturday at the Noosa Final of the Australian National Busking Championships where about 50 performers lined Noosa riverbank along Gympie Terrace to shoot for their chance at stardom, as international sensation Tones and I had done six years before.
Event founder, long-time music teacher Allan Spencer said Tones and I, who performed in the busking competition in Noosa in 2018 remained their greatest success after she went from sleeping in her car and busking in Byron Bay to the Noosa competition from where she was invited to perform at the Gympie Muster and picked up by Triple J, before her fame exploded.
Allan said over the event’s 13 year history they had watched many other competitors rise through the music industry, including recent Noosa winner Sari Abbott.
A music teacher for more than 40 years Allan and his wife, also a music teacher, began the busking competition in Cooma after being asked to organise an event to raise money for cancer research.
“It grew from there,” Allan said, but the goal, to develop young talent and support not-for-profits, had remained, with events now held in several locations around the country, each one raising funds for local causes and the annual final held in Cooma, where it began.
In Noosa Saturday’s event combined with the Come Together Festival to raise funds for Noosa Riding for the Disabled, Noosa Yacht and Rowing Club’s sailability program and domestic violence programs.
Allan said Noosa’s major winner Felicity Kircher, 19, had competed in the event in previous years and was a skilled busker. The competition had various categories with winners named below:
2024 Noosa Busking Winners:
Primary (0-12 years) – First: Rudi, second: Georgia Stafford, third: Huey Bayldon
Secondary (13-17 years) – First: Noah Robertson, second: Ultraviolets, third: The Dirty Birds
Open (18 years and over) – First: Felicity Kircher, second: Instant Soup, third: Levi X
Peoples Choice – First: The Dirty Birds, second: Instant Soup, third: Keira Humphreys
Special Judges Awards – Best Singer/Songwriter: Felicity Kircher, Best Guitarist: Nuraini, Best Entertainer: Wylie J, Best Band: Instant Soup
Winners of the national busking championships including Noosa’s will compete at the finals of the Australian National Busking Championships held in Cooma on 30 November.
