Since April this year, we’ve been on the hunt for the best amateur guitarists around the world, to see who should be crowned Guitarist of the Year 2018 - and now we can finally reveal the winners.

The finalists in three categories - Guitarist of the Year, Acoustic Guitarist of the Year and Young Guitarist of the Year - performed at the UK Guitar Show on Saturday 29 September 2018 and were judged by a panel of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar Techniques and MusicRadar editors.

Each contestant was ranked on originality, technicality, musicality and feel, and the winners walked away with prizes from PRS Guitars, Takamine and Ernie Ball.

It was an incredibly close call, but we can now announce the winners as follows:

Guitarist of the Year: Gabriel Cyr, Canada

Acoustic Guitarist of the Year: Alexandr Misko, Russia

Young Guitarist of the Year: Hunter Hallberg, USA

Above are the winners' original entries - we will be sharing videos of the finalists’ live performances over the coming weeks. Trust us, you’ll want to see these!

For now, huge congratulations to all the winners and finalists - stay tuned for more…