Twelve year old Taylor Pfeiffer has been awarded Third Place in the “Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF) 2011 National Songwriting Competition” in Category 1. Taylor won this Award with her first composition called “I Love My Style” a song about her love of playing the banjo and country music. Taylor won $200 worth of musical equipment, a certificate and a $100 grant for her school to spend on musical equipment.

The ACMF received thousands of entries from around Australia, which were judged by a cross section of industry professionals. Marking its ninth year, the ACMF National Songwriting Competition is an annual, free competition open to all Primary and Secondary school children in Australia (reaching more than 11,000 schools).

With her prize money, Taylor intends to buy a new banjo!

In July, Taylor graduated from the “2011 CMAA Australian Academy of Country Music – Junior course” in Tamworth and is looking forward to the 40th Tamworth Country Music Festival in January.

Taylor Pfeiffer is already a hit with the country music crowd. But, that's probably to be expected if you start playing the banjo when you're only seven years old. Born in August 1999, Pfeiffer comes from Clare in South Australia. She fell in love with the banjo after hearing it on a TV show, studied it for four years, then talent and serendipity took over.

Deciding to try her luck at the 2011 Tamworth Music Festival, she auditioned for Melinda Schneider's “Schneider Idol”. She was invited to compete – the youngest contestant to perform onstage before a large crowd at the festival. While trying to fix her banjo, Pfeiffer found Laurie Minsen to fix it for her without knowing that Laurie is Lee Kernaghan's banjo player and guitarist. While busking at Tamworth, Hamish Davidson, of the Davidson Brothers, noticed Pfeiffer and joined her. Impressed by her talent, he invited her to perform with the Davidson Brothers at their Bluegrass Breakfast show.

At Tamworth, Taylor appeared as a special guest on seven shows and got herself the nickname “The Banjo Girl” from an enthusiastic audience. She was a guest, among others, on the Runaway Dixie Show at the Balladeer's Homestead, the S.A. Tamworth Showcase at the Hands of Fame Park and Andrew Clermont's Bluegrass Showcase at the North Tamworth Bowling Club. While performing at the A.B.B.A. Star Quest at Diggers, Pfeiffer played Slim Dusty's “Saddle Boy” on the banjo. In the audience was Slim's widow Joy McKean who told Pfeiffer how much she loved the performance.

Pfeiffer's love for the banjo probably comes from her grandmother who was a banjo player, too. Although Taylor also plays the drums the banjo is her favourite instrument and she looks forward to learning how to play the Julian banjo. She plays bluegrass and country but Australian country is her favorite and she looks up to the likes of Casey Chambers, Slim Dusty and Melinda Schneider.