Golden Hands and T&TEC New East Side Dimension now share a joint title as the National Panorama 2025 small conventional winners.
Massy Trinidad All Stars and bp Renegades were the joint 2024 large band champions.
Several bands tied during the different legs of the 2025 competition.
The 2025 medium band winner Katzenjammers tied with Valley Harps Steel Orchestra.
Pan Trinbago's Large Conventional Bands final on March 1 at the Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain, also resulted in ties for the sixth and ninth places – Nutrien Silver Stars and T&TEC Tropical Angel Harps placed sixth, while Shell Invaders and RBC Redemption Sound Setters tied for ninth place.
The number of ties in recent Panorama competitions have aroused public discussion. Some think this offers an opportunity to examine the current adjudication system.
This, however, signals to Pan Trinbago’s president Beverley Ramsey-Moore that the standard of play has increased.
The number of ties does not worry her, she said in a phone interview on February 24. She added a lot of bands tied and in 2011.
“All of a sudden, ties have become a problem. I don’t know why people are really going off on this? I think it is a non-issue.”
Ramsey-Moore said there was a judging system, a criteria and judges do not have conversations before points are given.
“The highest and lowest are being thrown out. The alternate score is being thrown out and, therefore, if it ends up being a tie, I don’t see a problem with it at all.
[caption id="attachment_1142211" align="alignnone" width="708"] T&TEC New East Side Dimension is the joint National Panorama 2025 small conventional winners with Golden Hands. -[/caption]
“What it says to me, is that the standard of music is extremely high and that is a good thing for pan,” she said.
Professor and pan player Dr Mia Gormandy-Benjamin also said the standard of music had increased.
But she believes this is an opportunity to revise the current adjudication system.
“A lot of people assume bands are tied because judges decided to sit and do so. That is not what happens.
“The judges all submit their points, individually, and the highest and lowest scores are knocked out. It then leaves the three middle scores and those are added.
“Many times the ties are a result of the mesh.”
However, she supported Ramsey-Moore’s statement that it showed the competition’s high standard.
“All bands are coming so good, at such high quality, the marks are so close. Let us just say you have three judges and one gave 96, 97 and 98 but the other judge gave the same points but in a different order of the bands, and then the third judge did the same thing, those three bands will tie.
“You will have a three-way tie at that point in time. It could be that the judges did not intend to tie them but it is the system of judging that allows for the ties.”
The current adjudication has been used for some time and now that the standard has been raised so high, it would not hurt to revisit the system, to find the best way to avo
