Tom Jenkins was a virtuoso violinist who led the BBC's Grand Hotel broadcasts on Sunday evenings in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He died in 1957 aged forty seven. In 1995, his widow Michelle sold his Stradivarius violin for £375,000. With this, she established the Tom Jenkins Trust which went on to provide an annual award for the best stringed instrument manufactured by a student at the Guildhall University (subsequently London Metropolitan).
This award was eventually placed under the auspices of the Musicians' Company, managed by Dr Terence Pamplin (former Junior Warden of the Company) and Professor Yfrah Neaman (winner of the Cobbett Medal in 1997), together with the support of Margaret Campbell, a Freeman of the Company.
Antonio Stradivarius was 23 when he made the violin owned by Tom Jenkins shortly after leaving the Amati workshop. The Award therefore goes to a student based in a modern-day workshop who shows total commitment to and skill in the making of violins and related bowed instruments.
Past Winners:
2004 - Damien Sainmont
2005 - Lionel Karl Hepplewhite
2006 - BVMA Sponsorship: Violin Restoration and Bow Making Course
2007 - BVMA Sponsorship: Violin Restoration and Bow Making Course
2008 - Tobye le Vaillant & Tim Cogger
2009 - BVMA Sponsorship: Violin Restoration and Bow Making Course
2010 - Angus Dracup
2011 - BVMA Sponsorship: Violin Restoration and Bow Making Course
2012 - Martin Cuffe
2013 - BVMA Sponsorship: Violin Restoration and Bow Making Course
2014 - Edward Klose
2015 - BVMA Sponsorship: Violin Restoration and Bow Making Course
2016 - Kit Wensley
2018 - Mark Hendricks
2021 - Casper Reede
2022 - Francis Lawson
2023 - Benjamin Colt and Seoyoon Jeon
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