Each year the Festival's adjudicators single out the standout performances across every category. Here's this year's list, alongside the Festival's most outstanding alumni.
2025 Winners
"Heath Ledger won the Ramsay McLean Perpetual Trophy for the Most Outstanding Speech and Drama Item at the 1995 North of Perth Music Festival. He was awarded the 2009 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his work as the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), the first person to win a posthumous acting Oscar in this category."
"Lisa McCune was the winner of the City of Bayswater Shield for the Ladies Vocal Championship at the 1990 North of Perth Music Festival. In 1995 she won the Silver Logie for Best New Talent, then the Silver Logie for Most Popular Female Actress in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999. In 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 she won the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality, the first woman in Australian television to win four consecutive Gold Logies. She currently stars in 'The Warriors'."
"Paul O'Neill was the winner of the Overall Most Outstanding Performance at the 2003 North of Perth Music Festival. An internationally renowned tenor, Paul O'Neill is one of Western Australia's finest musical exports. After graduating from the WA Academy of Performing Arts, Paul studied in London and Cardiff before moving to Germany, where he has performed with the Staatsoper Berlin."
"Carl Vine AO won first prize in the fourth grade piano section at the 1967 North of Perth Music Festival. He is one of Australia's best known and most performed composers; his piano music is played frequently around the world, with recordings on more than 60 CDs in regular rotation on Australian radio. Since 2014 Carl has been Senior Lecturer in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music."
