Celestial Church of Christ, Sharon Parish, has emerged winner of the second edition of the SB Oshoffa Annual Memorial Juvenile Music Competition, with CCC Ijaye Olifi and CCC Glorious Children finishing second and third place respectively.

The winning choir received the grand prize of $2,500 of the competition organised by True Word in Season, the evangelical arm of Greater Tomorrow Group in the Celestial Church of Christ.

The competition was keenly contested among the nine shortlisted choirs comprising participants aged 8 and 17 years, selected from the 26 choirs that initially indicated interest in the competition.

The leader of the True Word in Season, Ademola Bolaji, said the competition was held to celebrate Children’s Day and preserve the musical legacy of the founder of the church, Samuel Bilehou Joseph Oshoffa through grooming children in sound music and spiritual values.

He explained that this year’s edition introduced a three-day camping exercise for participants where they received intensive music coaching and mentorship.

According to him, “The vision is to improve the musical standard in line with the legacy of S.B. Oshoffa. He was a trained musicologist who had deep knowledge of music. When you played before him, he could detect wrong notes immediately.”

He explained that the choirs performed indigenous songs composed by Evangelist Segun Emmanuel Ogabi popularly known as Gbatie by way of honouring his efforts within the church.

Beyond the cash prize, Bolaji revealed that participants would benefit from mentorship opportunities, music development initiatives and performance assessments aimed at improving their rehearsal culture and musical delivery.

He expressed optimism that the wider church would eventually adopt and institutionalise the programme because of its importance to the identity and legacy of the Celestial Church of Christ.

He said: “As long as God remains God and continues to bless us, this programme will continue. This is our own contribution to celebrating the legacy of the man who founded the church.”

Commenting on the performances, Ogabi expressed delight at witnessing his songs being performed in his lifetime as a way of honouring his legacy.

He, however, noted that there was still room for improvement, urging the choirs to relearn the proper rendition of the songs, especially as most of them are supposed to be sung in moderato style.