The stakes will be even higher at the Koroit Irish Festival's Australian Danny Boy Championship this year, with the winner to be catapulted onto the national stage.
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The winner of the unique event, to be held on April 30, will be flown to Canberra to perform at the National Museum's Irish in Australia exhibition.
The exhibition, entitled Not Just Ned, will showcase the significant Irish contribution to life in Australia and feature important pieces such as fragments of the Eureka flag, the Kelly Gang armour and a pistol from the Burke and Wills expedition.
Koroit Irish Festival program director Katharina Redford said the festival had been contacted by the National Museum about incorporating the Danny Boy Championships into the exhibition.
"The national museum contacted us and asked if they could borrow the Danny Boy concept off us for a one-off event during the exhibition," she said.
"We thought it was a great opportunity for us and will give our Danny Boy and the festival as a whole some great exposure.
"The national museum will have their Danny Boy on May 29 and they have offered to fly the winner of our Danny Boy in April up to Canberra to do a guest performance, so it is very exciting."
National Museum public programs and marketing assistant manager, Heidi Pritchard, said the museum knew how successful the Danny Boy concept was and was keen to have it as a part of the Just Not Ned exhibition.
"We kept hearing and hearing about this Danny Boy competition and it struck us as such a brilliant idea" she said.
"It is really nice to be able to work in partnership with the Koroit Irish Festival and be a part of the Danny Boy concept."
The Just Not Ned exhibition opens on St Patrick's Day, March 17, and will run until the end of July before it is moved over to the Irish capital Dublin.
The Australian Danny Boy Championship was first run at the Koroit Irish Festival in 1998 and is believed to be the only event of its kind, where competitors face off against each other to see who can best perform the Irish ballad.
The reigning Australian Danny Boy Champion is Woolsthorpe's Kevin Bowman who proved a popular winner of the 2010 final.
Mrs Redford said first prize will also include $500 and for the first time applications for the Danny Boy Championships are being sought prior to the festival.
Applications can be done by contacting the Koroit Irish Festival on 0421 819 767 or koroitirishfest@bigpond.com or visiting: koroitirishfestival.com.au.
