Landry-Walker High School took home top honors at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s Class Got Brass competition on Sunday. The Algiers high school beat out six other acclaimed school brass bands in the advanced category to earn the $10,000 prize.

St. Augustine High School came in second place, while KIPP McDonogh 15 Middle School came in third place.

The competition was held in Armstrong Park during the 10th annual Congo Square Rhythms Festival. A group of 12 judges with a deep knowledge of the brass band tradition scored all of the bands on elements like adherence to tradition, originality, improvisation, tightness and overall presentation. Judges included members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Rebirth Brass Band, Pinettes Brass Band and Soul Brass Band, among others.

Each competing band was asked to perform a traditional dirge and two up-tempo songs from the class brass band repertoire. Some groups earned bonus points with props (faux coffins to simulate a jazz funeral, for instance) or dancers that added more flavor to their performance.

Class Got Brass was launched in 2012 with the goal of encouraging schools to add traditional New Orleans brass bands to their  music programs. While most local schools have marching bands, the Jazz & Heritage Foundation noticed that many do not have bands that focus on the city’s famed second-line tradition.

Most of the top bands from this year’s competition have been contenders since the first Class Got Brass was held five years ago. Landry-Walker took first place in 2015, as well as second place in 2016 and 2014. The school’s band director, Wilbert Rawlins, won first place in 2013 and second in 2012 while at the old O. Perry Walker High School (the school merged with L.B. Landry High School in 2013 to form Landry-Walker). The Jazz & Heritage Foundation hopes to institute new rules for 2018 that will keep the same schools from dominating the competition every year.

In addition to the advanced competition, a battle was also held for beginners bands. First prize went to Baton Rouge’s Park Forest Middle School, with St. Katharine Drexel Preparatory School taking second place and the Lincoln School for the Arts taking third place.