HUNDREDS of talented and courageous youngsters have been giving it all they have got at the Gympie Civic Centre this week as they compete in the 2016 Gympie and District Eisteddfod.

Across all age groups and musical and performance genres, they are pushing down their nerves, loosening up their fingers, toes and vocal cords, and doing their best to remember everything they've been taught so that when the judges hand out that prize for first place, it is to them.

The army of volunteers who make the eisteddfod such a great event on our cultural calendar each year largely go unnoticed, but their hard work can be seen in the efficiency and calm which prevails at the Civic Centre throughout the course of the week.

They are the mums and dads, the school teachers and the music, dance, and speech and drama teachers who "fine tune” their young charges, ensure their hair is perfect, costumes immaculate and that they've eaten a solid brekkie that morning.

Having been on that stage trying to play a piano with trembling fingers, I know the sheer terror it can involve.

And having been a parent watching from the crowd, I know the sheer terror it can involve.

It's a great tradition that owes its success to a fabulous team.