Mountain Dulcimer winners, left to right, Aaron Thronton of Long Beach, MS (2nd Place), Nina Zanetti of Guilderland, NY (1st Place), and Jan Hammond of Wadsworth, OH (3rd Place)Hammer Dulcimer winners, left to right, Brenda Hunter of Bakersfield, CA (2nd Place), Wenzhuo Zhang of Fredonia, NY (1st Place), and Adam Sutch of Daisytown, PA (3rd Place)

Winners have been announced in the National Hammer Dulcimer and National Mountain Dulcimer championships, held in late September at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kan. Ironically, first-place finishers in both contests are from New York State.

Wenzhuo Zhang of Fredonia, N.Y., is the hammer dulcimer champion and Nina Zanetti of Guilderland, N.Y., took the crown in the mountain dulcimer competition.

Zhang received $100 cash and a Huddleson fully chromatic hammered dulcimer made by Mke Huddleson Stringed Instruments of Wichita, Kan. Zanetti’s prizes included a custom mountain dulcimer built by The Dulcimer Shoppe/McSpadden Mountain Dulcimers of Mountain View, Ark.

In the hammer dulcimer contest, second place went to Brenda Hunter of Bakersfield, Calif., and third was won by Adam Sutch of Daisytown, Pa. Hunter, who has a Web site at www.brendahunter.bizland.com, received a custom engraved Master Works Russell Cook Edition 16/16c hammer dulcimer from Master Works of Bennington, Okla. Sutch’s third-place winnings included a Cloud Nine Model 17/16/8 hammer dulcimer made by Michael C. Allen/Cloud Nine Musical Instruments of Ostrander, Ohio.

In the mountain dulcimer category, second place went to Aaron Thronton of Long Beach, Miss., and third went to Jan Hammond of Wadsworth, Ohio. They each received instruments from The Dulcimer Shoppe/McSpadden Mountain Dulcimers.

Twelve contestants from eight states participated in the hammer dulcimer competition and 17 contestants from 11 states participated in the mountain dulcimer contest.

The Walnut Valley Festival, held every year during the third week of September, is the home of several national and international competitions for stringed instruments that are used in traditional folk, old-time and bluegrass music.