Piano students Chandler Stapleton and Gabrielle Richardson each earned the Paderewski Gold Medal in the National Guild of Piano Teachers’ annual audition.

The guild, with headquarters in Austin, Texas, awards the medal to students who have participated in the national auditions for 10 years, performing from memory 10 or more pieces.

Richardson, a homeschooled 11th-grader, completed her audition last April in Vicksburg, Miss., performing 15 pieces.

Stapleton took her audition Aug. 6 in Spanish Fort, having attained permission for a special audition time. She will return to the University of Southern Mississippi, where she is double-majoring in bassoon and piano performance.

Both young women are piano students of Vincentine Williams of Spanish Fort.