But it was also another step towards realising her ambition of a stage career.
The St David's High School pupil chose 'Home' from The Wiz – an updated Wizard of Oz – for her first appearance in the race by dozens of teens from across central and s
outh Scotland aiming for the prestige title of Rotary Young Vocalist of the Year.
"Because the standard was so high, I was really surprised and actually got a bit of a fright, in a nice way, to hear my name read out at the end," said 15-year-old Rebecca, who has been performing in musical theatre since she was six.
The daughter of Hazel and Kevin Gilhooley, Old Craighall, Musselburgh, she hopes to enrol on a course at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts when she leaves school.
She added: "I've done quite a lot with Forth Children's Theatre, appearing in the Edinburgh Fringe, and Musselburgh Amateur Musical Association but this is the first competition I've been in. I was nervous as anything but it was also a truly wonderful experience."
First in the instrumental section was Lasswade Community High School's Eoin Downie (17), one of three trombonists in the competition, which attracted a record entry and was sponsored by the Cavaliere Restaurant, Dalkeith, and the Trading Post, Eskbank.
Eoin, who lives in Loanhead and hopes for a place on the applied music course at Strathclyde University next summer, said: "I was really chuffed with the result and looking forward to the next stage of the competition."
Second and third places in vocal and instrumental respectively were taken by Blair Anderson (Lasswade) and Samantha Wyllie (Newbattle); and Emily Brown (St David's) and Grigor Smith (Lasswade).
Principal teachers of music were thanked by Rotary president Alistair McNeill for their support and encouragement of talented youngsters, and there was praise too for competition organiser and compere Bobby Dodds.
