Joy Dunlop: 'Winning the Mòd was one of my proudest moments'
Scotland's annual celebration of Gaelic literature, traditional music and culture is beginning as the Royal National Mòd rolls into Perth. 
About 7,500 visitors are expected in the city for the eight-day festival, which features more than 200 competitions in music, dancing, storytelling and sport. 
One of the most prestigious is the singing contest, with only the very best Gaelic singers winning the coveted Gold Medal. 
Among previous winners is BBC Scotland weather presenter Joy Dunlop. She says it remains one of the proudest moments of her life. 
When the Royal National Mòd came to Oban, in Argyll and Bute, in 1992, all the children in the area were encouraged to take part. 
I'm from the nearby village of Connel and at the time there was a woman living there called Mary Pollock, who was a native Gaelic speaker from Islay. 
She offered to teach anyone who wanted to participate, so every Monday afternoon after school children from the village would go to her house to phonetically learn our Mòd songs. 
was my first time hearing, learning or singing in Gaelic and although I didn't win anything, I loved the experience. 
From then on, I attended the Mòd every year under the tutelage of Mrs Pollock, competing in every type of competition that I could. 
I had a brief break from competing whilst I was at university studying Gaelic but once I graduated, I began working for the Mòd's organisers, An Comunn Gàidhealach. 
I decided to return to competitive singing by entering the Gold Medal competition, one of the premier singing competitions for fluent speakers. 
I'd always followed the competition whilst growing up and was in total awe of the winners. 
Mòd Gold Medal was seen as the pinnacle for Gaelic singers and when my high school Gaelic choir conductor Angus Smith won the medal, it was better than if he'd won the X Factor!
It's fair to say that the standard of this competition is always exceptionally high, with a mix of native Gaelic speakers and fluent learners working all year on their performances.
For the Gold Medal you're judged not only on your technical vocal competency but also correctness of Gaelic. The best performers add their own personal interpretation and expression to bring something extra special to the songs. 
Competitors need to be consistently good across four songs performed in both the qualifying competitions and the final round. You're competing against the best of the best, and any small inaccuracy can make the difference between being in the top or bottom. 
I won the Gold Medal at the 2010 Mòd in Caithness, on my fourth attempt. I'd reached the final in all three previous years, and every year, I absorbed all the feedback and critiques received to improve my performances. 
r, I worked especially hard on my songs - studying every syllable and note, trying to find the best way to tell the stories in the music, whilst being as accurate as I could.
Controlling your nerves is a huge part of singing and I tried to countered this by entering provincial Mòds and singing at cèilidhs and concerts whenever I could. This extra focus appeared to work and I was absolutely thrilled to win the Gold Medal at last.
National Mòd has a royal patronage and that year, King Charles (then Prince Charles) presented the medals; adding a layer of prestige and ceremony to the event. 
Both winners were invited to have tea with the King once the competition ended but at the time I was also a member of Taynuilt Gaelic Choir; who were waiting on me returning, so they could compete in their own competition. 
me was very tight and I'm often still reminded of how I passed up the opportunity to have tea with the King, so I could perform with my choir and physically ran through Caithness to get there, holding my tartan skirt around my waist in one hand and my Gold Medal in the other. 
It's fair to say that winning the Gold Medal was one of my proudest moments and gave me opportunities to travel and meet people from across the globe. Since you can only win it once, it is a recognised achievement and it's always exciting to see my name listed amongst the previous winners. 
I still attend the Mòd every year and participate in any way that I can, from adjudicating and chairing competitions to commentating on the television and radio. 
I compete in choral competitions, both conducting and singing in choirs and vocal ensemble. Who knows, maybe I'll even return to solo competitions one day! 
It's my favourite week of the year, when I immerse myself in music and song, meet all my friends and celebrate the richness of our Gaelic culture. If you've never attended, I can strongly encourage giving it a go - you won't be disappointed.