CSBS ANNUAL SHIELDS
We present annual awards to the examination candidates who gain the highest scores over the year. Initially we had one award, but now have additional awards for acrobatics, tap, and the RAD solo performance awards.
VICKI PATERSON AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE
Vicki is a former CSBS student who gained 100% for her Grade 4 exam as well as consistently scoring mid-90s for her other exams. She became a professional ballet dancer before running her own dance school with her professional dancer husband. The awards were first presented in 2012. The Junior Shield is awarded to the Primary-Grade 3 candidate with the highest score over the year. The Senior Shield is awarded to the Grade 4-8 or Vocational candidate with the highest score over the year. Prior to 2021, the award was for any genre but since 2021 these shields have only been for graded ballet exam results.
JUNIOR SHIELD
2012 Anya Phillips
2013 Anya Phillips
2014 Anya Phillips and Ailey Meikle (joint)
2015 Anya Phillips
2016 Sienna Brown
2017 Jill Russell
2018 Abbie Garmany and Niamh MacDonald (joint)
2019 Alexandra Craib
2020 Jill Russell
2021 Heidi Russell
2022 Heidi Russell
2023 Charlie Fleming
2024 Ailsa Deans
JUNIOR SHIELD
2021 Jill Russell and Georgia Rosenfeld (joint)
2022 Charlie Fleming
2023 Emilia Goddard, Orla MacDonald, Marcus Miller, Amy Yates
2024 Hary Fleming and Kara Peterson (joint)
SENIOR SHIELD
2012 Kristina Lowe
2013 Sarah MacNeill
2014 Sarah MacNeill
2015 Zoe Young
2016 Katy Russell
2017 Sarah Firth and Lucy Hutton (joint)
2018 Sarah Firth and Katie Morley (joint)
2019 Abbie Garmany
2020 Jill Russell
2021 Ailish Ogilvie
2022 Jill Russell
2023 Heidi Russell
2024 Jill Russell
KATIE DEACON PERFORMANCE AWARD
This award is named after former CSBS dancer Katie who became a professional ballet dancer before moving into musical theatre and starring in a number of West End productions including ‘An American in Paris’ and ‘Moulin Rouge’ as well as international productions. The award was introduced in 2017 and is presented to the candidate gaining the highest mark for a Royal Academy of Dance Solo Performance Award. Read more.
2017 Catherine Bain
2018 Jill Russell
2019 Jill Russell
(2020 no SPA candidates)
2021 Jill Russell
2022 Charlie Fleming
2023 Charlie Fleming
2024 Charlie Fleming and Ava Green (joint)
THE ANDREWS TAP AWARD
This award is for the highest mark in a graded tap exam following our change to a new exam board / syllabus. It was first presented in 2021 and is titled after two former CSBS dancers, Andrew Coleman and Andrew Halliday who are now both very successful professional dancers, both with a love of tap dancing!
SENIOR SHIELD
2021 April Beattie
2022 April Beattie
2023 Jill and Heidi Russell (joint)
2024 Charlie Fleming