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Radio 3 Carol Competition 2019

And the winner is… Chris Black

This year, Radio 3 challenged amateur composers to create new music for Go to the Child, a new poem by Imtiaz Dharker. Our team of judges whittled hundreds of entries down to a shortlist of six. Listeners have been voting all week for their favourites.

The results are in! Congratulations to Chris, whose setting of Go to the Child will be broadcast on 大象传媒 Radio 3 on Christmas Day 2019.

Thank you to everyone who entered the competition, particularly the remaining five shortlisted composers, whose entries can be heard below. Thank you also to the 大象传媒 Singers, pianist Richard Pearce and conductor Bob Chilcott, who recorded and performed all six shortlisted carols in this year's competition.

A very merry Christmas from 大象传媒 Radio 3!

2019's winning carol

Chris Black: Go to the Child

Chris is the winner of the Radio 3 Carol Competition 2019!

Listen to the other shortlisted carols in the 2019 competition

Tom Dobney: Go to the Child

Tom is one of six finalists in the Radio 3 Carol Competition 2019.

Paul Lewis Edwards: Go to the Child

Paul is one of six finalists in the Radio 3 Carol Competition 2019.

Anthony Gray: Go to the Child

Anthony is one of six finalists in the Radio 3 Carol Competition 2019.

Simon Hancock: Go to the Child

Simon is one of six finalists in the Radio 3 Carol Competition 2019.

Dominic Veall: Go to the Child

Dominic is one of six finalists in the Radio 3 Carol Competition 2019.

Go to the Child by Imtiaz Dharker

Rise and go on a bitter night
when hope lies frozen in the ground,
hushed and hidden out of sight,
no living thing for miles around.

Even though the tears of the earth
have turned to crystal, rise.
Take the road that leads to a birth.
An infant calls and the heart replies.

See in the eyes a blazing star,
a spark of something newly born,
feet already walking on air,
holding a lifeline in the palm.

When at last you see the face
and feel on your cheek the baby’s breath;
when you have known the grace
of a beginning, being blessed,

look up at the hungry bowl of the sky
and empty your pockets to fill it,
see where the water is rising
and lift your hands to still it,

turn to a world that is still unborn
and raise your voice to sing it,
go to the child who is not your own
and open your heart to save it.

See in the eyes a blazing star,
a spark of something newly born,
feet already walking on air,
holding a lifeline in the palm.

Go to the Child, by Imtiaz Dharker

Imtiaz Dharker reads her own poem, commissioned for the Breakfast Carol Competition 2019.

T&Cs

Online voting T&Cs

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Online voting privacy notice

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T&Cs of entry

Click here to read the general terms and conditions of entry for the competition.

Privacy notice for competition entrants

Click here to read the general competition Privacy notice.