Before the announcement of the winner, Albert Town stood in anticipation with the other contestants. - Contributed Photos

After several weeks of intense competition, Albert Town High School's Choir walked away as the champion of the TVJ's All Together Sing competition on Sunday night.

The Trelawny-based high school was given the nod by the voters, as they received more votes than Rusea's and Mona High, who also placed in the top three.

Overwhelmed, excited, elated!

Cameke Shirley, one of the persons who assisted with the preparation of the school's choir, said the students are very proud about winning. "Actually they are overwhelmed, excited, elated!" she said.

She said the school was entering the competition for the first year and from the start the choir knew that it was going to win. She said the choir went into the competition with an open mind and worked hard to gain the votes of the public and their community.

To celebrate their victory, the choir is to hold a motorcade beginning in Albert Town, Trelawny and ending in Christiana, Manchester. As part of the motorcade, the choir will play songs it performed during the competition and thank residents in these communities for voting and supporting them.

Happy for Albert Town

Rusea's High, which placed second, was happy that a school from the western part of the island finally won the competition. June Thompson, principal of the school said they were "very happy for Albert Town."

She said they felt they were winners nonetheless and were also happy that this time they placed second in the competition after placing third in two previous years.

Not one of the popular choirs

Meanwhile Mona High is also happy, having made it to the top three of the competition. Choir director, Shamar Reid, said they were not so confident when they just entered, because they were not one of the popular choirs. However he said when they made the top ten, their confidence increased and the choir felt it had a strong chance of winning and so worked hard.

Reid noted that although the choir placed third because it did not have enough votes, it always delivered a strong performance. "We had the total package; when it came down to delivery we had everything," he said.

He was unsure as to whether the choir would return next year to because a lot of the singers would be leaving school, and hence the group, next year. He said they would have to wait and see.

All three choirs said being in the competition had brought benefits to them as they have been getting requests to perform on many Christmas shows.

Albert Town in celebration mode after they were announced the winners of TVJ's All Together Sing competition.