Editor, Smithfield Times

The Smithfield Lions Club announces its annual James A. Bland Memorial Music Scholarship Contest to be held on Feb. 20 (Saturday), at the Smithfield High School Auditorium at 2 p.m. This is the first of an escalating series of contests (club, regional and state levels) sponsored by the Lions Clubs of the State of Virginia culminating in scholarships for music study. The state level awards are scholarships of $2,500 for first place, $2,000 for second place, and $1,500 for third place, and cash awards of $1,000 for fourth, fifth and six places for both vocal and instrumental finalists.

The contest is open to youth attending elementary, middle, junior or senior high school (or equivalent home-schooled level) and who are residents of Virginia. Only one club contest may be entered as the winners from each club contest progress to the next higher level. The final state level contest is held in conjunction with the Virginia Lions State Convention, this year being held in Roanoke, VA, May 19-22.

Interested instrumentalists and vocalists may obtain applications from Lion Katie Lemon at Smithfield High School or by e-mailing her (lemon2@hotmail.com) or Lion Tim Marinelli (smithfield.lions@verizon.net).  Deadline for completed applications is Feb 13th.

Finally, Bland competitions are free and open to the public—we invite everyone to come out to hear these gifted young musicians perform!

Lion Tim Marinelli
Smithfield