Danny Boy winner Gerrard Norman from Colac with best instrumental winner Mikayla Moroney, 17, of Koroit and best local Barbara Nolte, 20, also from Koroit. (Picture: Leanne Pickett)
AN amateur singer from Colac has taken out first prize in the Koroit Irish Festival's Danny Boy competition after accepting a dare from his family at the weekend. Gerrard Norman admitted that he did not know the famous song's words and had not sung publicly for about 20 years, until he fronted the large crowd on Saturday night. "I used to sing about 20 years ago with the Colac Players, but I've done nothing since then," he said. "It was daunting, I've never sung in any competitions before. I just did it as a dare." Mr Norman said he had once sung Danny Boy at his aunt's 80th birthday but could not remember the words for last night's performance. "I had to read the words," he said yesterday. This weekend was his first time at the festival and he was awarded with $1000 for his efforts. Koroit's Barbara Nolte won the local section of the competition for the second year running. She was nervous about defending her title against some pretty tough competition, she said. The competition's instrumental section was won by 17-year-old Mikayla Moroney, also of Koroit, playing the flute. This was her first entry in the competition and she said she would definitely consider taking part in the competition next year. Festival committee president Des Noonan said the competition had been running for the last seven years and was getting bigger each year. This year's competition attracted about 25 entries and he was happy with that number, considering the inclement weather on Saturday. Everyone performed the song so differently, it was enjoyable to listen to it being sung over and over again, he said.
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