Held in the glittering surroundings of Harrogate's Royal Hall tonight, Wednesday, February 10 in front of a crowd of hundreds of pupils and parents, the AMP Awards were an immediate success on their launch in 2009 bringing together students from different schools in a shared experience and attracting the involvement of some major local businesses.
Next week's grand final will feature seven young rock and pop bands from Harrogate, Ripon, Boroughbridge and Knaresborough.

The finalists are:
The Dukes of Bevington (St Aidan's C of E High School)
Missing Link
(Harrogate Grammar School)
The Brixton Rowers
(St John Fisher Catholic School)
The Weeknights
(Ripon Grammar School)
Going Backwards Forwards
(Boroughbridge High School)
Caramel Fortune
(King James's School, Knaresborough)
The Psycho Strangers (Boston Spa School)
More info from: www.ampawards.co.uk

This year's event sees the audience getting the chance to have a say in deciding the winners via an interactive text wall inside the Royal Hall.
Each of the four judges, Simon Colgan, owner of leading Harrogate venue the Blues Bar, Jason Odle of Harrogate's BASH Studios, Harrogate Advertiser Series Gig Scene Editor Graham Chalmers and aspiring young Harrogate music journalist, George Tyson, will cast 20 per cent of the vote with the remaining 20% being decided by the crowd.
Last year's winning teenage rock group, Book of Job, from St John Fisher's and St Aidan's Joint Sixth Form, became local headliners after their success, starring in their own under-18s Amp Awards Winners party at Rehab and playing the H BOMB! festival which helped them secure shows at Rio's in Leeds supporting metal heavyweights such as Forever Never and Laruso.
Part musical competition and part hands-on business learning experience for the students, the prizes for the top three bands and winning business teams this year will be provided by the following: 6k Vision, a music industry development project and record label for young musicians; Harrogate Spa Water and the Young People's Enterprise Forum, supported by Yorkshire Forward; and leading music industry suppliers, Soundsavers.
The first-placed band will receive a complete career boost package from 6k Vision including the chance to play a set on the GIMI Main stage at the Culture Shock Festival 2010, a three-hour Music Industry Mentoring session covering performance/promotion/marketing and a one-day recording session in the Protools HD Mobile Recording Studio.
In the AMP Awards spirit of collaboration, 6k Vision will also arrange a communal lyric writing session with all of the band finalists, after the final. Leading music industry suppliers, Soundsavers, have also generously sponsored a range of sound equipment to be given as prizes for the top three bands to take back to their respective schools for the benefit of future musicians.
The MC for the night will be Boroughbridge High School teacher Josh Hill while the leading organiser is Marian Farrar, business liaison officer at St Aidan's High School.
Among the event's other sponsors are BASH Studios, Thirsty Planet, Soundsavers, Vision Records, the Graphic Attic Ltd and Harrogate International Centre.
Almost as important as the musical battle will be the competition between the teenage business teams whose job it was not only to organise each school's AMP Awards heats, including publicity and promotion, but also help organise the grand final itself.
The business team awards are sure to be highy prized this year.
Paul Martin, managing director of Harrogate Spa Water, will host the winning team at a working lunch at the Harlow Hill site, offering the young people an opportunity to meet the other directors and the sales team and get an idea of the ethos, the organisational structure and the Harrogate Spa Water recipe for success.
Sponsored by the Young People's Enterprise Forum and supported by Yorkshire Forward, the top three Business Teams, will also be presented with a cheque to spend on further Enterprise initiatives at their own schools.
The AMP Awards Grand Final starts at 7pm prompt on Wednesday, February 10.
graham.chalmers@ypn.co.uk
For tickets for the final at the Royal Hall costing £5, tel HIC box office on 0845 130 8840 or visit www.harrogateboxoffice.co.uk
Full report and pictures of the AMP Awards final in next's Harrogate Advertiser Series