Five awards at the St Albans Young Musician of the Year awards went to a local school.

The jazz band and barbershop group from St Albans School won the awards for best secondary band and vocal ensemble respectively at the competition held in the Cathedral.

Three solo awards also went to students at the Abbey Gateway School – second-former Theo Gill won the secondary strings category, fifth-former Nicholas Springthorpe won the secondary voice section and fourth-former Thomas Dilley took the top prize in the secondary wind/brass category.

This year’s competition was judged by Robert Max, a finalist in the BBC competition in 1984 and now a solo cellist, conductor and chamber musician.

St Albans School director of music, Mick Stout, said: “It was a fantastic day. Such a range of awards shows the strength of our pupils’ talents and the variety of music being taught at the school.

“To win all five categories and all but one of the categories that we entered was a wonderful achievement and should act as a great fillip to all of those that were successful.”