Sponsored by the Montreal Centre of the RCCO, it is the longest running competition of its kind in Canada. Details of early competitors are not available because the records only date from 1954, but it is known that competitions were held before that year. You may find a listing of the competition First Prize Winners below. Originally called the CCO (RCCO) Montreal Centre Organ Competition, in 1968 it was named after John Robb, former organist at St. Andrew's-Dominion-Douglas United Church. In 2004 the Montreal Centre decided to rename the competition the Lynnwood Farnam Organ Competition.
Lynnwood Farnam was born in Quebec's Eastern Townships and began his career as a young church organist in Montreal. The first pipe organ he ever played was at All Saints' Anglican Church in Dunham. At the age of 15 Farnam won the Lord Strathcona Musicial Scholarship as a pianist. This award paid for three years at the Royal College of Music in London, returning to Montreal in 1904. He was organist of St. James Methodist (now United) Church, St. James the Apostle Anglican Church and Christ Church Cathedral. In 1919 he took the position at New York's prestigious Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and became a well-known performer and teacher across North America.
Held annually in a Montreal area church, the competition has been funded over the years by donations from companies and by private contributions as well as by the foundation Les amis de l'art. The 2008 Final Round will be held at Saint Matthias Anglican Church, Westmount on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 4 p.m. and is open to the public. First Prize is a monetary award of $700 and a concert organized by the Montreal Centre of the Royal Canadian College of Organists to take place within three months of the competition. Second Prize is an award of $300. Contest rules and application are included below (in PDF format). The deadline for applications is October 10, 2008.
Lynnwood Farnam mp3 here
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| 1954 | Thérèse Vanier |
| 1955 | * No competition |
| 1956 | Jean Leduc |
| 1957 | * No competition |
| 1958 | Jacques Larose |
| 1959 | Mireille Lagacé |
| 1960 | Jacques Larose |
| 1961 | Mariette Latreille |
| 1962 | Jacqueline Gagnier |
| 1963 | Monique Gendron |
| 1964 | Yvon Godbout |
| 1965 | Noëlla Genest |
| 1966 | Monique Legault |
| 1967 | Marcel Lachambre |
| 1968 | * No first prize awarded |
| 1969 | Lucie Madden (electro-pneumatic) Hélène Dugal (tracker) |
| 1970 | Réjean Poirier |
| 1971 | Yves-G. Préfontaine |
| 1972 | Larry Phillips |
| 1973 | Deirdre Morrell |
| 1974 | William Tiemersma |
| 1975 | Geneviève Lagacé, Keith Sadko (joint winners) |
| 1976 | Hélène Panneton |
| 1977 | Thérèse Laflamme |
| 1978 | Raymond Perrin |
| 1979 | Jean LeBuis |
| 1980 | Réal Gauthier |
| 1981 | Jacques Lacombe |
| 1982 | Nicole Lemieux |
| 1983 | Sarah Fraser |
| 1984 | Catherine Todorovski |
| 1985 | Danielle Dubé |
| 1986 | Sylvain Caron |
| 1987 | Michael Capon |
| 1988 | Myriam Chabot |
| 1989 | Pamela Hoswitschka |
| 1990 | Bruno Vezina |
| 1991 | Erik Reinart |
| 1992 | John Stephenson |
| 1993 | Janick Tremblay |
| 1994 | André Gagnon |
| 1995 | Julie Shantz |
| 1996 | Steve Laplante |
| 1997 | Jennifer Loveless |
| 1998 | Dany Wiseman |
| 1999 | Dominique Gagnon |
| 2000 | Vincent Boucher |
| 2001 | Philippe Bélanger |
| 2002 | Patrick Prud'Homme |
| 2003 | Nicolas A. Marcotte |
| 2004 | Jean-Willy Kunz |
| 2005 | Matthieu Latreille |
| 2006 | * No competition |
| 2007 | * No competition |