West Chester's 10 Year Old Katie Cotrotsios wins The Media Theatre's "Vocalist Junior"

“The Vocalist Junior” competition at The Media Theatre had its final round for 2017 on Sunday August 13. And the winner is: 10 year old Katie Cotrotsios of West Chester!

Cotrotsios won over the judges during the Finals with her renditions of “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” from My Fair Lady and “Once Upon A December” from Anastasia. She is the youngest Vocalist Junior winner in five years, as the most recent winners had all been ages twelve or thirteen.

All of this year’s Top Five, in fact, were on the younger side of the contest except for Skylar Kelly, who is 13. Second place went to Lily Lexer, 8, of Malvern. Another Malvern singer, Maya Maloskey, age 11, took third place. Fourth place went to Skylar Kelly, 13, from Phoenixville, while fifth place went to tiny Zoe Nesbitt, 7, of Drexel Hill. Each of the top five received cash prizes plus gift certificates to The Media Theatre.

The competition is sponsored each summer by Iron Workers Bank. John Whitig, the President of IWB, was on hand as a judge for the final round. The other three judges on August 13 were the theatre’s Artistic Director Jesse Cline, dancer and choreographer Lydia Krull, and professional actress Karen Toto-Hockenberry.

“Vocalist Junior” is a partner competition with the “Vocalist” each summer, and while “Vocalist” provides an opportunity for singers age 14-24 to choose their favorite songs and perform them for a live audience each week, the “Junior” contest is for ages 7-13. Artistic Director Jesse Cline stresses each week during the event that although they are competitions, and were set up as such, the main goal is to provide an educational platform for the vocalists. Audiences are actually able to see the progress each competitor makes weekly, which creates an entertaining and memorable show throughout the summer.

The top five were culled from the final round’s top fifteen singers, who were chosen with a combination of the judges’ scores and an online voting system within which the public is given a ‘voice’ to choose their favorites. After the top five were chosen, all online voting ceased and only the judges’ scores were used to choose a winner.

“Vocalist Junior” will return again in the summer of 2018, as will its counterpart “The Vocalist”. Audition information will be posted on The Media Theatre’s website, www.mediatheatre.org. You may also call for information at 610-891-0100.