Last May, Del Val’s choral director, Daniel Wells, submitted several recordings from the school’s chamber choir, Vox Auri, for consideration in a national choral competition.

The American Prize is a national non-profit competition, that acknowledges excellence in a variety of different performing arts categories. Ideal for the Covid age, The American Prize is a fully-virtual competition that collects recordings submitted from all over the nation.

Wells gathered already existing recordings made by the ensemble and submitted them for The American Prize competition. Then just last week, he was notified that Vox Auri is a semi-finalist in the Choral Performance (High School Division) category. He along with the Vox Auri members were immensely surprised with their success.

The group is among only 10 other high school choirs in the running for the award, and they are the only school from New Jersey being considered for this prestigious honor.

Announcements for the finalists will be forthcoming in the next few months.

Wells wants to sincerely thank the students for the hard work they put into their roles as vocalists in Vox Auri. “The real stars are the students.”