Three-peat of national country music awards for Whanganui singer Sophie Toyne

Sophie Toyne won the New Zealand Country Music Association Junior Entertainer of the Year award for the third time.

Young Whanganui country music star Sophie Toyne has won the New Zealand Country Music Association’s junior entertainer of the year award for a third time.

“It was such an amazing atmosphere, all the people there were congratulating [me] ... it was amazing,” the 13-year-old said. “Particularly this year, because it’s my last as a junior, and I now move up to the next age group. It was one of my goals to win it.”

Next year she’ll move to the next age category, from the junior category for under-fives to 13-year-olds to the intermediate category for 14 to 18-year-olds.

The entertainer of the year awards were held at Birkenhead College in Auckland with artists vying for the association’s most coveted titles across four age categories.

Each contestant had two chances to win the judges’ approval by performing one song at a 1pm matinee and a different number at the 7pm awards show.

As part of the competition, Sophie performed two Carrie Underwood songs, The Potter’s Hand and Blown Away before all the contestants gathered for the winners to be announced.

With the announcement, one final song was performed by all the contestants, with the winners for each category performing each successive verse.

“With the final song that the contestants sing, the junior overall winner will sing the first verse, the intermediate overall winner will sing the second verse, and so on and so on.”

The challenge of the contest was making sure she had the lyrics memorised and the notes she wanted to hit down, while also having an eye for showmanship.

“We had a meeting with the convenor of the awards, and she said the judges were really looking for somebody who can entertain and put on a show as if the show was their show,” she said.

Her win meant she would be a special guest artist at next year’s awards, having her name engraved on the winner’s trophy, and taking home a $400 cash prize.

Now with the contest done, she’s focused on working on two studio albums with her producer Dick Le Fort, who previously produced her debut EP, Believing, in 2022.

She’s also the North Island’s country music youth ambassador for the NZCMA and said she wanted to get more new young voices into the scene, as it was lacking this at the moment.

“It’s quite sad now because in country music at the moment there’s not [many] new youth. It’s kind of all the same now.

“That’s what I want to work on, getting new youth into the country music society,” Sophie said.

She first got involved in country music when she was very young and said she loved meeting new people and tackling new challenges because of it.

Sophie thanked her singing teacher, Elizabeth De Vegt, her parents and extended family, friends, supporters and the committee of the NZCMA for choosing her.

Finn Williams is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. He joined the Chronicle in early 2022 and regularly covers stories about business, events and emergencies. He also enjoys writing opinion columns on whatever interests him.