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Previous YAAA Winners

For the 2024 Competition

The 2026 Young Artist Achievement Awards competition was held on Saturday, May 9 2026.

A Superior rating at the 2026 local Tennessee Teacher’s National Association audition was the eligibility requirement for entrants. 

​​The following winners were chosen:

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Grand Prize Winners
K-4 Cooper Ly – Student of Valerie Middleton
5-8 Molly Xie – Student of Christina McGann
9-12 Joséphine Borne – Student of Jama Reagan

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Piano:
K-2 Ella Yu – Student of Valerie Middleton
3-4 Kevin Li – Student of Heather Conner and Cooper Ly – Student of Valerie Middleton
5-6 Brian Adam – Student of Jama Reagan
7-8 Tyler Schwartz – Student of Heather Conner and Jama Reagan
9-10 Sharvil Kolhatkar – Student of Jama Reagan
11-12 Joséphine Borne – Student of Jama Reagan


Strings:
K-2 Nathan Park – Student of Kirsten Cassel
3-4 Katelyn Xu – Student of Shu-zheng Yang
5-6 Molly Xie – Student of Christina McGann
7-8 Eshan Litton – Student of Christia Chambers
9-10 Not awarded
11-12 Evelyn Zadell – Student of Christia Chambers


Winds:
7-8 Athena Zhu – Student of Jessica Dunnavant
9-10 Cora Riggs – Student of Jessica Dunnavant
11-12 Not awarded


Ensemble:
5-6 Kerina Li, Hannah Chou, Molly Xie, Josh Wiegman – coached by Eric Wong

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Judges: Trevor Thornton, David Samuel, Sun-A Park, Molly Barth, Geoffrey Herd

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Those who made this event possible:

Christina McGann - Coordinator

Jerry Reed and Lipscomb University

Coordinators of the Performance Auditions: Dana Meyer, Sarah Barham, and Daniel Landes.

The NAMTA Board for supporting this event and all of the participating teachers.

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© Nashville Area Music Teachers Association, 2026

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