15-year-old Ziyu He, from Austria, has been named the winner of Eurovision Young Musicians 2014. The final of this prestigious competition took place on Saturday 31 May at the Roncalliplatz in Cologne, Germany.

The show was broadcast in 10 of the 14 participating countries by EBU Members WDR (Germany), CT (Czech Republic), NERIT (Greece), PBS (Malta), TRM (Moldova), NRK (Norway), TVP (Poland), MTVA (Hungary) and SVT (Sweden). The whole show or an edited version will be broadcast by other participating Members over the next few weeks.

The 14 finalists performed in front of a live audience around 2000 people outside Cologne's iconic Cathedral and were judged by a panel of five world-renowned musicians: Chairman of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Prof,  Dr Clemens Hellsberg, conductor Uroš Lajovic, recordist Maurice Steger, clarinettist Carol McGonnell and the first Eurovision Young Musicians winner in 1982, pianist Markus Pawlik.

Ziyu He performed Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2, 1st mvt. candenza. 

He was born in 1999 in Qingdao, China and began studying the violin at the age of five. Ziyu has lived and studied in Salzburg at the Leopold Mozart Institute of the Mozarteum University since October 2011.

Ziyu said: "I am very happy to have taken part in this great competition and to have won."

The winner received a prize of 10,000 euros and the opportunity to perform with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Prizes were also awarded for the first time to second and third placed Urban Stanič from Slovenia and Gergely Devich from Hungary who were awarded 7,000 and 3,000 euros respectively.

Eurovision Young Musicians was a co-production between the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Member Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR).

The competitors

The participants for the 2014 edition (with their age in brackets) were as follows:

• violinist Ziyu He from Austria (15) ORF
• accordianist Martin Kot from the Czech Republic (11) CT
• guitarist Vassilis Digos from Greece (18) NERIT
• guitarist Kurt Aquilina from Malta (18) PBS
• violinist Sonoko Miriam Shimano Welde from Norway (18) NRK
• cellist André Gunko from Portugal (17) TVP
• violist Albin Uusijärvi from Sweden (18) SVT
• violinist Sara Domjanić from Croatia  (18) HRT
• violinist Judith Stapf from Germany (17) WDR
• violoncellist Gergely Devich from Hungary (16) MTVA
• pianist Livyka Shtirbu-Sokolov from Moldova (16) TRM
• accordianist Bartosz Kołsut from Poland (18) TVP
• pianist Urban Stanič from Slovenia (18) RTVSLO
• recordist Lucie Horsch from The Netherlands (14) NPO

The full list and profiles of participants for the 2014 Eurovision Young Musicians, along with high resolution photos, can be found on the official website, YoungMusicians.tv.