City of Warrnambool Aria's senior vocal section was set to run across Saturday and Sunday at Christ Church in Warrnambool.

Convener of the section Christine Hayes said the event was canned due to poor entry numbers.

"We had about six entries, but in previous years the competition had 12 or more entries," Ms Hayes said.

"We were worried about COVID-19 - one of the accompanists said there was lots of COVID-19 in Melbourne."

She said election day and coaches replacing trains on the Warrnambool line also impacted it.

This year, the speech, debate and drama sections still went ahead, with all events run by volunteers.

Ms Hayes said next year's competition would definitely run.

"We want to keep the competition going," she said.

Ms Hayes said past winners of the competition had furthered their careers including 2019 joint-winners Warrnambool soprano Louise Keast and mezzo soprano Jiayao Sun.

Keast has since become a member of the Richard Divall Emerging Artist Programme with Melbourne Opera and in 2022, joined Opera Australia in Sydney as a full-time chorus member.

Sun is completing a Bachelor of Music in Voice Study at University of Singapore and also teaches singing.

"It's great to see them see them going overseas to further their careers because that's what we want to see," Ms Hayes said.

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