Outstanding Achievement 2025

Professor Tom Maguire (Head of School) and Dermot Martin

JAMES Outstanding Achievement Award 2025

We are delighted to announce that this year’s Outstanding Achievement Award goes to Dermot Martin. Dermot’s final-year project investigated harmonic density in traditional folk music, drawing inspiration from the work of John “Spud” Murphy and his collaborations with Lankum, among others. For his submission, Dermot created a three-track EP that utilised advanced tuning and music production techniques to craft a rich timbre which, when examined closely, revealed a densely layered frequency spectrum. Two of the tracks from the EP can be listened to below.

Our sincere congratulations to Dermot on this achievement—we can’t wait to hear what you do next!