A bumper entry of talented musicians competed in this year's Norfolk Young Musician of the Year competition which was celebrating its 21st year.

A total of 18 young musicians, aged between 13 and 19, battled it out in the classical contest which was started by the Music at St George's Trust in 1991.

The contest, which took place at the John Innes Centre in Norwich on Sunday, was won by 16 year-old Norwich School student Ragnhild Rivertz on violin who played pieces by Lalo and Bach.

It proved to be a successful day for the Norwich School with fellow students Henriette Poos, 18, on harp and Augusta Urquhart, 17, soprano finishing second and third in the contest.

Jonathan Wortley, chairman of the trustees of Michael Badminton Young Musicians Trust, which promotes the competition, said: 'We had a very successful day.

'It was the 21st Norfolk Young Musicians Competition and we had the biggest entry this year that we've ever had which we were really pleased with.'

As well as performances on flute, cello, violin, clarinet, piano, trumpet and saxophone this year's contest also featured a harp for the very first time.

Mr Wortley said the competition provided those who took part with a 'really valuable' opportunity to perform in front of an audience.

He said: 'Competitions are always a fairly artificial thing in a sense but its very good practice for them to perform in public and it all helps because I think virtually all of the prize winners hope to go on to do music. It's all good experience for them.'

Mr Wortley added adjudicator John Anderson, who is principal oboe with the Royal Philharmonic and English Chamber Orchestra, was 'impressed' by what he heard.