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2025 Panorama Info Complete
Results - Small Steel Orchestra Finals - Trinidad & Tobago National Panorama 2025 - Golden Hands and New East Side Dimension Steel Orchestras Tie for First
Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. - It was double the celebration for two champion bands in the small steel orchestra category on final night. Doing the Southland proud was Golden Hands Steel Orchestra with arranger Vanessa Headley-Brewster, as the music organization returned to the top after first becoming champions back in 2018. At the same time New East Side Dimension retained its claim to the title in 2025, successfully defending its 2024 win with arranger Kersh Ramsey.
The Saturday January 25 night triumph was jubilant, while being especially poignant and emotional for Vanessa, and also band members. It is the first time in their Panorama competition history that Golden Hands took the stage without her Mom, the late Franka Hills-Headley who passed mere months ago. In preparation for this season’s competition, it was her Mom who had suggested Mih Lover as the band’s tune of choice.
New Dimension East Side scored the highest in all three rounds of this season’s competition beginning with the preliminaries, then in the semi-finals. Kersh Ramsey’s success with New East Side Dimension now mirrors that of his close friend and fellow arranger, Ojay Richards and Uptown Fascinators. Both music organizations hail from sister isle Tobago. New East Side Dimension and Ramsey’s consecutive championships, 2025 and 2024, are a match for Richards and Uptown Fascinators in 2023 and 2020 (there was a break in competition in the COVID-19-impacted years).
Five bands in the finals proudly represented the South/Central region with two in the top tier, when Southern Stars Steel Orchestra placed third. This year’s finals featured no less than five previous champions; two copped the 2025 title, while the other three - Uptown Fascinators, T&T Defence Force and Arima Golden Symphony went on to place fifth, ninth and eleventh, respectively.
Periods of rain only paused, but did not stop the sweet sounds of steel at Skinner Park in Trinidad’s southland for the finals in this category of the 2025 Trinidad & Tobago National Panorama. The fourteen small conventional steel orchestras were where they worked hard to be for their entire season, which began with a field of forty-four in the preliminaries, then thirty-one in the semi-finals, before the final fourteen. Small steel orchestras were allowed a minimum of forty-five players, and a maximum of sixty.
With the tie at the top, the first and second prizes are added and shared between the two champion bands. The first prize is TT $400,000.00 (circa USD $58,928.00); and second, TT $350,000.00 (circa USD $51,562.00). Each champion band takes home TT $375,000.00 (circa USD $55,245.00) - less ten percent (10%) financial contribution—collected from all competitors’ winnings—going to event organizer Pan Trinbago for expenses in general. There was a four-way tie for fifth place, so in a pool purse of TT $775,000.00 (circa USD $114,174.00), each band gets approximately TT $193,750.00 (circa USD $28,543.00). The same principle applies to the two tied in ninth position.
The night’s intense music contest closed off when final band Todd’s Road Rhythem Raiders began its ‘count’ circa 12:35 a.m. and finished at 12:43 a.m. Results followed very soon after, by 12:58 a.m. AST (Atlantic Standard Time). Pan lovers had options to catch the event on WACK’s Pay-Per-View, and locally simulcast on WACK, TTT (Trinidad and Tobago Television) and Talk City 91.1 FM.
The medium and large band categories are up next, with panyard judging preliminaries starting February 4 for North region medium competitors. Large bands start their preliminary round on February 9, with the North region up first.
Following are the full results for the finals of the 2025 competition for Small conventional steel orchestras.
FINALS results >>>
Small
All Small Conventional Steel Orchestras:
Tuners, Captains, Drillers et al - Panorama 2025
Winning Panorama Arrangers - SMALL Steel
Orchestra Category
Meet the 2025 Small category participants: listing with Arrangers, Tuners, Captain, et al
click for more on Trinidad and Tobago Panorama 2025 | Schedule